Rumaroo
by Lady Eden Death
Summary: It's always nice to know that your boyfriend blinded a king who resides in the demon world. Oh, and that a certain demon STILL wants to eat you after you apparently stole something from him. Things are about to get a whole lot hairier. Wait a minute! Not again! Final Story in the Sunako Trilogy
1. Chapter 1

For anyone who has been wondering about Sunako's "high school career" in Japan (versus the American way) it is this: Grade school in Japan is for six years (between the ages of 6 and 12), followed by three years of Junior high (ages 12 to 15), and next high school for three years (ages 15-18). When Sunako moved to Japan her "freshman year of high school" she wound up in the Japanese 'Junior high' age range. I messed up in the previous fics when I said she was still in Meiou High at that time; it was supposed to be Meiou JUNIOR High (which is where Kurama attended). Right now she is in her second year at Meiou High.

With that cleared up, here begins the third and final fic of the Sunako trilogy!

-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-

Chapter 1: Adventures in Babysitting

I sigh as I write down the final line to my last research paper; that's right, after this I will be completely through with the make-up assignments for the stupid health project fiasco. Maybe I should be grinning like a complete idiot at that thought, but instead I'm grimacing. I have made it my ultimate goal in life to never fail anything ever again. Except for a pregnancy test—just kidding, maybe. My eyes remain on the sheet of paper even after I'm done writing. I blink a few times, yet can't bring myself to make any sort of move to put the darn thing away. In a folder, where it belongs right now. Huh.

Furrowing my brow, I look over my shoulder to see my mother staring at me, concern in her eyes. It's been shy of a week since I received that strange note from Rugia. Since then, I have passed out randomly a few times—luckily, never at school or when crossing a busy street—and no one—absolutely _no one_—is able to wake me up at those times. Kurama thinks it has something to do with whatever it is I apparently stole from Rugia. I'm thinking I'm hitting middle age early. Whatever the reason, my parents have been worried about me.

I finally manage to put away my research paper, and I tuck the folder into my backpack while telling my mom that I'm fine. She gives me that motherly 'Sure, sure, I _don't_ believe you, but I'll humor your assumption that I _should_' and then walks out of the room. I narrow just one eye as I watch her retreating form.

Glancing towards the clock, I note that I have roughly fifteen minutes before I have to head over to watch Tomo and Mura, my neighbor's children. I rub my hands together, trying to decide what sort of dastardly deed I'll do before then. Or, more precisely, which book I'm going to bring with me for after the kids are in bed. And maybe I'll also get a bit of reading done if the two of them behave today—they're generally good, but all kids have their moments—and watch an episode or two of their favorite show. Which I conveniently forgot the name of.

I frown at this revelation and try to dig into my memory further. Huh. Nope. All I know about their show is that it annoys the crap out of me to the point that I generally tune it out. Except for those few incidents where I stare, open-mouthed at it and feel all my brain power being sapped, ever so slowly turning me into a pile of useless goop. Yup, that's generally how I feel about that.

Shrugging at my inability to recall the title, I head for my room. I drop my book bag off on top of my bed before going over to my third bookcase-I have four large bookcases and one small bookcase. On top of the small bookcase is where I keep my television. I used to have my playstation three next to it, but my parents took that away for now. They want to make sure I'm focusing on school until they get the results of my make-up work. The small bookcase is where I keep my movies and games too. One of the larger bookcases has all my workbooks on it, while the other three have books. The one I'm at now, the third one, has most of the books I haven't read yet.

I cock my head to the side, narrow my eyes, and stare at the various titles. What am I in the mood for? I tap a finger against my chin and hum softly. Probably something in English. My gaze drops to the second shelf. It's settled, I'm grabbing a Buffy book. I snatch up 'Portal Through Time'. This'll be a nice, quick read. Plus, the reviews online for it were generally good.

I turn to leave my room, then freeze up. The room tilts on its side for a moment before the world steadies itself once more. I blink through the slight haze that envelopes my vision, and all returns to normal. Strange. This is something that never happened before. I pat my pocket, making sure that my cell is still there. I'm definitely going to be asking Kurama about this in a bit. He promised me that he was going to look further into what I could have possibly stolen from Rugia. We need to know for certain; especially since the deranged cat demon seems hellbent on eating me.

Kurama doubts that Rugia is in the human world again; he's too powerful to slip past the barrier that Spirit World fixed. The demon crow was sent in his stead. That's enough to unnerve me, what with its ability to track me down and all.

I take a deep breath before leaving my room. Nothing out of the ordinary happens this time, which is a good thing. I won't bother to mention that dizzy spell to my parents; no need to worry them further. I skip down the stairs and turn into the kitchen. My mother is packing something into a brown lunch-bag. Noticing that I arrived, she smiles and holds the bag out to me. I quirk a brow, but accept it all the same.

"What's this?" I ask. Part of me wants to look inside it to check before she answers, but I'm choosing to ignore it.

My mother just smiles at me, turns back towards the ledge, and motions towards a Tupperware container with her hand. If I remember correctly, that's the one she uses whenever she makes homemade cookies. I peer into the bag she just handed me. Sure enough, there are three bags-two with just one cookies, and one with three cookies-inside. My mouth waters.

"I love you so much, mommy."

She turns her head for a moment, her smile widening, and says, "Love you too. Now, hurry. You don't want to be late."

"Alright. I'll see you later tonight. I'm out!"

With one last wave, and after I give my mom a quick kiss on the cheek, I leave home. I have the bag of cookies in one hand and my book in the other. Cell phone in pocket. Yup, I think everything's accounted for. Unless I'm missing something. In which case that would suck.

Enough stating the obvious! I briskly walk over to my neighbor's house. Midori-san is just on her way out. She looks relieved when I arrive. Hm. One minute late. Whoops; I do try to be punctual for the most part. I apologize for being late, but she tells me that it's okay. She says goodbye and is off. The kids, she mentioned, are in the living room right now. I close and lock the door behind me then head in that direction. Sure enough, I can hear noises coming from the television set before I even get there.

Tomo and Mura are sitting on the couch together, glaring at the TV set. My guess is that their mother locked it on an educational channel. Which tells me that they were acting up today. I quietly slink over to the chair to the right of the couch and sit down. Yup, I was right.

Tomo, the four and a half year old, perks up when he sees me. He abandons the couch, comes over, and climbs into my lap. Before I can say anything, he manages to take the bag of cookies for me. Tomo peeks inside, grins, and hands me the bag back. He's a pretty good child when it comes to not taking things without asking. He knows that he'll get the cookie after dinner, and he doesn't even try to argue. Instead, he turns his attention back to the show.

As for Mura, she's still in her iffy stage with me. That girl is 5 and a half going on fourteen. She's reaching that rebellious stage, or the princess stage as my dad likes to say. Where the world is supposed to revolve around her and if it doesn't, all hell is about to break loose. Midori-san has been working on that, she tells me, but Mura is very obstinate. Mura looks over at me with a half-hearted glare then turns back to the television. She huffs noisily, as though my very presence annoys her. I fight to suppress a giggle at this.

I pull my phone out of my pocket, careful not to drop Tomo off my lap, and go through my contact list until I reach Kurama's number. I hit 'send message' and, one-handedly, slowly type up a recount of my dizzy spell. I end it with a question asking if he thinks it's related to the Rugia thing or not. I click send then set my phone down at my side.

Mura looks over at me and crosses her hands over her chest. "You brought cookies to bribe us, didn't you?"

I can't resist. "Nope, I brought cookies to eat in front of you." She glares at me, telling me that I'm not funny and that I shouldn't quit my day job. I highly doubt she even knows what that means, but oookay. Someone is snippy today. "You want to play a game?"

She purses her lips at me and says, "No." Mura rolls her shoulders as she returns her attention to the television.

Tomo cuddles closer to me. "I want to play a game," he says in a whisper. I wrap my arms around him and lay my chin against the top of his head. "We can play hide and seek."

"That game's for babies!" Mura says nastily. I'm starting to think she _doesn't_ need a cookie tonight. Maybe something more along the lines of a smothering hug. But, I'll save that for later, when she's not on guard. Otherwise I'll probably get punched in the face.

"Well, then you can sit there while Tomo and I play, if that's how you really feel," I say. I pick Tomo up off my lap and set him on the ground. I ask, "Do you want to hide first, or should I?"

"I will! Now turn around and start counting. Oh, and you can't peak 'cuz that's called cheeeeating," he tells me, drawing out the final word. I smile and comply. As I start counting, I hear Tomo giggle and his feet hit against the ground, the noise growing more and more distant.

I hear several cupboards open and close as I reach fifteen. Mura huffs from her spot on the couch; it's that sort of huff that a child makes when they actually want to do the thing they just called babyish but won't since that would mean they were doing what they just dissed. More cupboards open and close. I reach twenty. Five more seconds and then it'll be time to go find him. The rummaging noises cease as I get to twenty-four.

"Twenty-five. Ready or not, here I come," I say, loud enough so that Tomo can hear me from any part of the house. I pick up my cell phone before actually leaving, see that there are no new messages, and pocket the device. That done, I head for the hallway. Generally, with kids, you pretend to not know that they're in the kitchen.

I walk towards the bathroom, enter, and start sifting through the varies hiding spots in here. I move the shower curtain, open the cupboard where the towels are.

"Nope, no Tomo here~" I say loudly in a sing-song voice. I can hear Mura muttering something from the living room, but can't tell exactly what she just said. I'll have to remember to do something girly with her later. Maybe paint her toenails or something. I get down on my hands and knees to look behind the toilet-funny, I know, but usually Tomo changes hiding spots at least five times in a single game so I like giving him time to do so. Sure enough, I hear more noises coming from the cupboards in the kitchen.

I turn to leave the room again, and two things happen at once. First, my phone vibrates in my pocket two times to let me know I have a text message. Second thing that happens is that the world once again spins. It distorts a few times then is fine again. Except for the fact that some things suddenly look bigger. That's strange.

I blink then turn into the hallway, stepping out of the pile of clothes-wait…what? I turn back around. My eyes immediately set themselves on the pile of clothes there. My clothes. The clothes I was wearing like, less than five seconds ago. I swallow hard then slowly, soooo slowly, look down at my hands-nope, they're paws. I sort through this in my head.

Okay, I was crawling around on all fours a moment ago then went to leave the bathroom, still on all fours, and suddenly turned into a cat. Right. Because this is all completely logical.

"This isn't…" I stop speaking. My voice is still normal. I take this as being a good thing and start digging through my clothes with my paws. I manage to get to my pants and roll against the pocket, successfully pushing my phone out of it.

I thank any and all gods out there that I did not lock my phone this time. I touch the 'new message' icon. Instead of reading Kurama's message, however, I hit the call button immediately. Then, I carefully tap the 'speaker' button with my paw. As the ringing noises fills the hallway, I sit down at stare at the screen.

On the second ring, I hear one last banging of a cupboard from the kitchen. Then footsteps, drawing closer. This isn't good. I can distinctly hear Tomo coming towards the hall, and I can't do anything because Kurama is answering his phone right now with a, "Hello?"

"Okay, so I think I figured it out."

"Hmm?"

"I'm a cat right now," I say, just as Tomo's voice rings out, all enthused, "Kitty!"

"Oh dear. I….I'll be there in a minute."

I don't get a chance to even sneeze, that's how fast Kurama hangs up the phone. No doubt he's rushing over here. Probably a good thing, considering I'm sure Midori-san would not approve of a kitten watching her two children, who are both younger than six.

At the sound of the word 'kitty' leaving her brother's lips, Mura rushes towards the hall. I turn my head so that I can see the two children under my care. Tomo's eyes are wide, and he's doing the gimme-hands. Mura looks like her heart is melting at the sight of me. Yeah, I'm going to have to say that I'm smart enough to know that I'd rather tell the children it's me than have them dress me up or anything.

"Stay there," I say, holding up a paw in front of me.

"Suna-chan!" both Tomo and Mura shriek. Mura is looking around, trying to figure this out in a more logical way. Tomo, on the other hand, comes up with his own solution to this. "A witch cursed you because you didn't try to find me, huh?"

"Uhm…" Wow, how do I answer that? "I don't know, Tomo." Tomo, we're not in Kansas anymore. That's about all that's running through my head right now. Okay, time to focus, Sunako. "Well, something turned me into a cat and now I don't know how to turn back into a human. So I called Kurama to come help me."

"He's your booooyfriend," Mura cooes, as though boyfriends are gross. She wrinkles her nose at the thought.

Tomo, meanwhile, looks excited. "So prince charming will kiss you and you'll turn back into a princess!" Awwww…..he thinks I'm a princess."

While Tomo comes over and sits down next to me, saying something that has to do with fairytales and fairytale endings, Mura tells me she's going to go eat my cookies in front of me. Then she proceeds to rush out of the room. I glare as evilly as I can at her when she returns with the brown bag. Of course, I highly doubt a kitten glare comes off as anything but cute. Mura takes out _my_ bag of three cookies, puts one against her lips, then crunches down. Ooooh. I'm going to have sweet, sweet revenge when I remember how to turn back into a human.

I look at Tomo and ask sweetly, "Can you please go unlock the door so that Kurama can get in? Then come back right here and sit down with me." This, of course, is not something I would like to ask someone of his age. But there's no way around it, and it sucks.

Tomo returns to my side just as Mura drags out the second cookie. She waggles it in the air in a teasing manner. Then chomp! I sniffle a little. I want my cookie. This isn't fair! Why are children so cruel and unjust! Why is this little girl eating my cookie? And why did I have to go and put that idea into her head before? Forget painting her toe nails later. I'm putting her to bed early! No dinner! She can starve!

"Mmmm. It's soooo good!" Mura says, nibbling at my cookie. I keep from making a single comment, knowing it'll only humor her. It's not like a can do anything to stop her right now. Except scratch her or bite her, which she and I both know I won't do.

Mura whips out my third and final cookie. She presses her lips to it in a kiss. All hell breaks loose. And by that I mean, the front door opens at the same time that I think: if only I were human again, I would snatch it. A half a second later, I was lunging at her. Then Kurama entered the hall just as my hand-my hand!-grabbed onto the cookie. At that point, I immediately relinquished hold of the cookie. Kurama and I both turned around. Him, to keep from staring. Me, to grab my clothes and rush into the bathroom.

I quickly dress. I can hear Kurama grabbing the bag of cookies from Mura, Mura's protest, and Tomo saying something about how Kurama didn't even have to kiss me for me to turn back into a princess. I pull my shirt over my head just as I hear feet rushing towards one of the bedrooms. A door slams. I'm going to take a guess here and say that Mura realized what it means now that I returned to human form.

After leaving the bathroom, I spare a glance in the direction of Mura's room. Sure enough, that's the door that is currently closed. I'll put off lecturing her until I speak with Kurama. I head towards the living room, where I can hear him talking to Tomo. The little boy is still on his fairytale kick at the moment, which is going to work out later when he tells his mom. Maybe. So long as he leaves out the part of me being naked. Huh. I know I'm generally against it, but I might have to talk to Kurama about memory loss or something to keep Tomo from talking about this.

I sit down on the couch next to Kurama. Tomo is currently in his lap. However, as soon as I settle down, he hops into my lap. The sudden pressure knocks the wind out of me for a moment. I regain my breath then turn to Kurama.

"So is Rugia _really _upset because I can turn into a kitten?" Because, if you ask me, I think that's pretty dumb. "It's not like you can do a lot as a kitten."

Kurama laughs, and I get the impression that I'm missing something. He tells Tomo where he can find the cookie. We both wait until Tomo is out of hearing range before we say anything more.

"It's his entire ability to transform, Sunako." I open my mouth to make a smart comment, but he doesn't allow room for it. "You're only ever been in the form of a kitten, so it's natural that's what you'd transform into. Rugia, however, can-could-shift into a cat_ demon_ form." My mouth makes an 'o' shape at that explanation. "I suspect he's not taking too kindly to being limited in battle at the moment."

"What do you mean?"

"With a stronger foe, it would do to have a more…humanoid appearance, such as the one he does. That allows for dexterity, among other things. However, when stealth is needed, a more agile form such as that of a cat would be useful. Likewise, to devour demons would be easier when in a larger form."

"How large?"

"It varies." He frowns as he says this. "He's a leech, you said, correct?" I nod. "Leeches generally have three forms in that case. The humanoid form we saw. A smaller from, which he had concealed inside of you, when he uses a host-we can assume that's used only in emergencies, however. Lastly, there is a larger form. One he'd use to devour individuals with abilities he wishes to absorb, or leech."

"So wait a minute…he…"

"Yes, he leeches abilities while he is either inside the host, or if he is digesting an individual. Certain abilities he may be able to use when the user is fully digested, although I'm guessing this depends upon the ability itself as well as how well he is able to master it."

"So basically you're saying that right now, with me being the one who can transform instead of him, I'm preventing him from gaining new abilities." I cross my arms over my chest.

Tomo returns from his cookie escapade. He sits down in my lap, wraps my arms around him, and rests against me. His eyes immediately glue themselves to the television set. Mura also joins us, although she sits on the chair, away from us. She glances at me a few times, worry in her eyes. I sigh and tell her that she can make it up to me later. This seems to do the trick, and she relaxes.

"He can still eat people in his humanoid form, though, right?" I whisper to Kurama. He nods. "It's just not as effective?"

"They'd be in bits rather than a whole," Kurama replies. "So, he could technically still leech, however the results would be only a third as potent as in the past. Eating you, possibly even just killing you, would return the power to him."

"But he's settled to eat me." I don't even have to ask it. It's a statement, it's the truth. I sigh, close my eyes, and lean my head against Kurama's shoulder. "Then why all these dizzy spells and tiredness?"

Kurama wraps an arm around me. His thumb rubs small circles on my skin. "It's a new ability that you have yet to master. Yusuke suffered through similar exhaustion after he was finally able to absorb the powers passed down to him by Genkai. He dealt with it better, however, because he had more experience with reiki. Plus, there was a deadline that determined the fate of the world." This made plenty of sense to me.

I take a final deep breath. "Well, as long as you're here to help me through this, then I'm sure I'll be good." His breath hitches. I open my eyes and stare at him.

"About that…"

-1-1-1-1-1-1-

For all those people who've been wondering how Rugia's powers work, there you go!

Next up on Rumaroo: You think you know someone, but then they shock you. They tell you, one of my buddies from the past, whom I _blinded_, has summoned me to the demon world, where said buddy has become one of three _uber powerful demons_. I'm starting to think Kurama's head is going to become target practice for my arrows.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Key to Transforming

I eye Kurama warily, knowing that he probably has some bad news. What makes me know this? Well, to start with, how he began his sentence a moment ago. Then there's the fact that he totally just brushed it off and told me that he'd tell me later, when we're alone. Seems to me it's pretty important. Nothing he can just brush off or anything, I mean. I frown, but make no move to protest. It's hard to protest, anyhow, when you have two kids bugging you for dinner.

I once more consider the idea of allowing Mura to go without eating for the night after her actions with _my_ cookies. That wouldn't be very responsible, however, so I suppose she'll get to eat.

Giving Kurama one more look of suspicion, I head for the kitchen. Usually Midori-san has something set out or something in the fridge for me to heat up. Sure enough, there are a few items laid out on the ledge, along with a recipe. I can find the rest of the items on the list in refrigerator. I start to put the food together according to the recipe. Kurama comes out to join me, but I ignore him. I'm mixed up with wanting to fume at him and being glad he's here at all, and at the same time am a mixture of confused and relieved over finally discovering more on this Rugia mystery.

So I'm able to turn into a kitten, eh? I wonder if I'll be able to use this to my advantage at all, or if it will become more of a hindrance than anything. I'm already struggling with learning how to properly form a bow and arrows with my reiki. Now the transformation thing? Oh geez. If nothing else, at least it's helping to ensure that Rugia isn't out there getting a shit ton more powerful.

"Could you come to my place tomorrow...after school...to talk about it?" Kurama asks. The fact that he's hesitating at all isn't overlooked. I purse my lips, tryiing to figure out what this big secret is. All the same, the only thing I can do is nod.

"So long as my parents say it's fine, I'll come over." I shift from one leg to the next. "By the way, have you heard from Yusuke at all this week?" Kurama blinks as he looks at me. "Well, I mean, he was acting weird at the beginning of this week, and I haven't seen him since then."

"He did visit Genkai the other day," he replies. I furrow my brow. Sometimes I hate that I'm one of the people not in the know. "I believe she told me that she sent him to speak with another."

"Another...? Care to elaborate?"

He says nothing as I throw everything into the pan. Okay, maybe I did do that a little too roughly. I'm probably acting as though I'm annoyed with him when I'm not really; a little upset that he's keeping something from me, but not annoyed.

"That's all I was told. I've had other...things...on my mind." I swallow hard. "They're important things, and I wish to discuss them with you at length. That is why now is not the time."

That makes me feel a little bit better, I guess. I offer him a weak smile, and together he and I finish preparing the food. Kurama adds a little something extra to the kids' plates when we serve them up. To help with their memory, he says. I eye him for a moment then nod. It's a weak amount, he promises. Just enough for tonight. I'm really starting to hate all these secrets.

-The Next Day; After School; Minamino Residence-

You know there's something up when _both_ Yusuke and Kurama are sitting you down on the couch to talk. I blink several times, shift a bit in my seat, and am thankful that I changed out of my skirt after school. If I need to kick some asses, I'm currently wearing the right outfit. My toes curl in my shoes. My gaze keeps shifting from Kurama to Yusuke and back again.

"Cupid," Yusuke says before blinking. "Well, I talked to Keiko yesterday...and tonight I'm...well. Look. It's like this..."

And Yusuke begins to explain how he isn't the descendant of just any demon. Nope, he's the descendant of some great demon who's currently alive. Said demon is one of three uber powerful beings in the makai who are vying for power with one another. He was just visited by some of his ancestor's allies or something like that. HIs ancestor, named Raizen, is apparently about to hit the bucket. His followers all want Yusuke to go to the Makai. And that's exactly what his plan is.

"How'd Keiko take this?" I ask, my brain in too much of a fog to think of anything else to say. He gives me the 'how do you think?' look. I nod in response to it.

Yusuke shoves his hands into his pockets and avoids looking at me. "I'll come back...sometime. Dunno when. I told Keiko in three years." He grins goofily, chances a glance in my direction then immediately looks away. I must be either glaring at him or looking very despondent. "I wanted to say goodbye without leaving you hanging. Y'know...I'd feel guilty for leaving without saying anything..." He looks off the side as he mutters out the final sentence.

"Y-yeah," I say weakly. My voice catches in my throat. What else is there to say?

"Don't look so glum...it's my birthday, Cupid. You're supposed to be cheery."

Of course, as he's saying this, he's making a goofy face and poking me in the nose. I scrunch up my face, and fail at fighting away the grin. I wave his hand away with my own.

"Tch. Happy birthday, jackass."

"Ouch. Don't be mad, Sunako." I open my mouth, close it, and just stare at him. It's hard to believe he's making such an adult decision right now. To go away? To leave? He mentioned something about telling Atsuko that he's leaving to somewhere like America or something.

I put my hands in my lap and shrug. "Fine. But if you see Rugia there, kick his ass for me."

Yusuke grins broadly. "Sure thing, Cupid."

"What about Kuwabara? Did you tell him yet?"

"I'm working on it."

I frown at that response. Then suddenly things start clicking into place in my mind. My jaw drops open and I turn to Kurama, staring at him with a horrified expression. He immediately has a guilty look on his face, and he can barely meet my gaze without borderline wincing. It's true! I knew it!

"Is _everyone_ going to the demon world right now?"

"No," Kurama replies, meanwhile Yusuke drops back, holding up his hands defensively in front of himself. "While Yusuke received an invitation from Raizen and Hiei one from Mukuro—"

"Hiei's invited!"

"—I received one from Yomi." I stare at him, wide eyed. I literally jump up and try to punch him in the face. Kurama easily dodges my fist before catching my wrist. "I have a history with Yomi. It's not as though I can simply refuse."

"What kind of history?" I ask, narrowing my eyes.

Kurama sits me down once more. He starts to go into his days as a bandit back when he was Yoko Kurama. I nod, try to follow along, and then look at him as though he's a complete, psychotic stranger, when he gets to the part where he tried to have Yomi assassinated years ago. Except, come to find out, all that happened was Yomi was blinded. And, shock of all shockers, now Yomi is one of those three uber powerful demons in the makai. Not only that, but Yomi has summoned Kurama to meet with him.

"To kill you, right? He's probably going to try to kill you."

"That's not the impression I received," Kurama replies, frowning.

"So all three of you are just leaving..."

Yusuke nods. "In a few hours."

"WHAT!"

Cue both Yusuke and Kurama tackling me to the ground when I lunge for both of their necks. They easily overpower me, and my back hits the carpet. Oomph. I release a slight growl as I struggle to get away from them. I can't believe that they're leaving like this. I wiggle as best as I can, trying to get free. While he grabs hold of the arm I managed to get loose, Kurama wishes Yusuke a happy birthday. I try to flip myself onto my back—and success! Managing to scoot on leg under my stomach, I begin to lift myself up—only to have _someone's_ knee on my back. It pushes me back down. I hit my chin then snarl. I'm going to murder both of these guys.

"I'm going to kill you!"

I can hear Yusuke's laughter at my words. I glower at the floor beneath me. Damn them. Damn the fact that they're physically stronger than me…and the fact that their yoki is more powerful than my reiki. I've already tried to put up several barriers to divert their attention, however it's like swatting flies for them when it comes to knocking those barriers down. I think I hear Yusuke tell me something about needing to give up. Never! Hayakawa Sunako does _not_ lose! Even if the odds are against me, I'm going to win.

Now, if only I had a way to shrink so that I could get …out…of…their…wait a minute. Wait just one darn minute!

I fall completely still as I cease all struggling. Yusuke and Kurama are pretty intelligent, seeing as how neither of them release me. That's just fine. I'm going to figure out how to turn into a kitten again and then I'll…well, I'll be naked if I transform back into a human so that might not work. Unless I manage to scurry to Kurama's room, transform into a human, throw on his clothes, and then jump down his entire staircase. At that point I'll strangle both Kurama and Yusuke. That's right! I've got a plan! Now to figure out how to transform in the first place…

Hmm. Well, last time it happened I was crawling around. So if I do something catlike, maybe it'll happen again. Although I can't crawl right now…and I'm definitely not purring or meowing because I would get weird looks from the two boys. Plus who knows what sort of fucked up thoughts they'd have. I'd rather not think about it, actually. What else do cats do? I'm trying to remember what I did when I was a cat…other than go to the vet…and have to pee in the litter box. That was nasty.

I hissed at Kurama. Buuut….that might be weird. Maybe if I meow _really_ quietly they won't hear? Or I could bite one of their hands. I look around as best I can given the fact that I'm still pinned down. Yusuke and Kurama both have their hands out of range of my mouth. Darn it. Guess I'll have to try meowing.

I can feel my face going hot. It's probably fire-engine red at this point. I swallow hard then whisper a soft, "Mew."

Whosever knee is on my back, it digs further in a bit as that person leans closer. I am still not a kitten. I glare at anything in my line of vision. Yusuke and Kurama both ask what I just said. Honestly? I think Kurama heard that mew because there was a hint of amusement in his voice. I keep my mouth closed, not wanting to answer them at all. I huff and dig my nails into the rug. Suddenly the pressure on my back disappears and I'm having to pull my claws to get them unstuck from the carpet. There are two 'oomphs' as the boys knock heads together.

I shake out of the clothes I was wearing a moment ago and start running for the stairs. I can hear both Yusuke and Kurama shuffling to get up then their feet are almost booming as they run to catch up to me. Knowing I won't make it up the stairs without them catching me, I go to turn—only to have my paws catch the tile floor of the kitchen, causing me to slide. I slip a few times. Darn this lack of traction! I manage to slip under the baker's rack, which is wedged between the counter and a wall.

I peer out of the shadows as two pairs of feet stop in front of me. I can hear Kurama sigh. Yusuke is the first one to kneel down. He reaches a hand for me—and I swat him, my claws out.

"Fuck!" Yusuke curses, taking his hand back. I doubt it hurt him as much as it surprised him.

"Sunako!" I can hear that chastising tone coming in the way Kurama just said my name. He kneels down and reaches a hand for me. I back up out of reach, stuffed in the corner against the cabinet. "Are you honestly going to force me to move the baker's rack?"

I growl in response and all-out glare at him. I can't help but wonder exactly how long he's known about this. He didn't receive the invitation just yesterday, did he? Doesn't sound likely to me. Maybe he hasn't known about it for a _long_ time, but he's known about it for more than a day. And it bothers me that he kept this a secret. Not only that, but what about Minamino-san? What the hell is he going to tell his mother?

Kurama's hand disappears, and I take that time to curl up into a ball under this rack. Kurama walks off for a moment. Yusuke is tapping his foot against the ground. He turns, leans against the rack, and I can hear him chuckling. Kurama walks back into the room. Once more, he kneels down and shoves a hand underneath the baker's rack. This time, he's armed…with a long leaf. It looks like one that belongs to his mother's lily plant from the hall. Probably is, actually. Now that I think about it…wonder what he plans to do?

The tip of the leaf touches my nose, tickling it. I try to hold back the sneeze, but fail. Yusuke is laughing at my kitty-sneeze, just like he did back before the tournament. Kurama takes the time I'm disarmed by the sneeze to move the leaf to my leg. Before I can yank my paw away, he manages to manipulate the plant with his yoki to wrapping around both my front legs. In the time it takes me to slip my paws out of the leaf's grasp, Kurama has grabbed me by my hide. He literally pulls me out from underneath the baker's rack and lifts me into the air.

I curl up my four paws towards my belly. It's not safe to hold a kitten nose-level, you psychotic freak! Not only that, but is this _really_ how you want to treat your girlfriend? My ears flatten atop my head. He _better_ be planning on holding me with both hands because this is not my idea of comfortable.

"Come now, Sunako, you're being unreasonable," Kurama says. I'm about to answer when I feel Yusuke scratching my back. I arch into the touch, much to my dismay. Why the hell does this feel so good? Damn that guy for causing my purring instincts to kick in. Kurama yanks me away from Yusuke, who mutters out a quick apology whilst laughing. He begins walking away, still holding me by my hide. "I'm taking you to the bathroom so that you can transform back into a human."

On the way, he snatches up my clothes. He's walking at a brisk pace, and I'm starting to miss having my feet secure on the ground. Kurama tosses my clothes onto the bathroom floor, practically throws me on the rug—okay, maybe that's an exaggeration. He's not very gentle, though. He flicks on the light then leaves, closing the door behind him. I can hear him sigh from the other side.

"You're the one who always seems to be keeping secrets!" I yell as loud as I can, which let me tell you is not easy when you're a kitten. All the same, I try to focus on becoming a human. Think; picture things as a human. I'd be taller…I'd have hands so that I could pick up my clothes. Why is this not working? "Uhm…heeey…I need help."

"Are you naked?" I hear him ask. Why is there that pervy tint in his voice?

Glaring at the door, I say in a deadpan, "Yes." It isn't a lie. I'm a kitten, so of course I'm naked.

He opens the door and comes in, perhaps too eagerly. Then stops short. Blinking, his gaze drops down to me. I'm weaving myself between his legs, rubbing against him. Why does it feel like I've been locked up in this room forever? I think I'm starting to think _too_ much like a cat. I stop rubbing against Kurama and sit down in front of him instead. He squats down and stares at me.

"So…" My right ear twitches. I don't think I'm ever going to get used to that feeling. "How _exactly_ does one transform?"

He looks taken aback for a moment. Then Kurama is frowning. "You're stuck as a kitten. I don't—"

We both tense up when the sound of the front door opening echoes through the hall. Kurama practically hops out of the room then sputters out a quick greeting to his mother. She says something back to him, but I'm too busy trying to find a hiding spot. Great! What happens if I transform in front of her. She doesn't know about all this demon stuff. Not to mention the fact that I'd be naked and she'd wonder what the hell Kurama and I do when she's not home. This is just perfect.

I hear footsteps on the stairs. My nose is twitching. Why do I smell perfume? Before I can even think on it, I rush out of the bathroom towards the scent. I catch myself, stop, and curl into a ball again. I don't see Kurama anymore. The perfume scent is stronger closer to the stairs; I think Minamino-san went up there. Yusuke steps into the hallway, catches sight of me, and rushes over. He scoops me up, returns me to the bathroom, and bundles up my clothes, stuffing them up his shirt.

Before I can say anything, Yusuke rushes off, my clothes in tow. Okay, if I turn into a human now, I'm totally screwed. My ear itches at the thought—and my back paw is scratching it. I lean into my paw, enjoying the feeling…and tip over. Umph. I roll around on the floor, stretching my paws. An upside-down Kurama steps into view. I roll back onto my stomach before standing.

"Hmm?" I don't say a word, just in case Minamino-san comes back down the stairs. That single sound, however, is rewarded by Kurama pulling me up to him. He cradles me in his arms. When he turns around, Yusuke steps back into view. He stashed my clothes somewhere. I eye him, ready to say something about that fact when I hear Minamino-san coming back down the stairs.

She spots Yusuke, smiles, and turns back to Kurama. She's about to say something when I catch her eye. "What's this, Shuichi?"

"She's my moms," Yusuke pipes up real quick. I wonder if they practice these lines, or have excuses like these at their disposal all the time. "I was getting…advice for…my mom wants me to watch her, and…"

I rub my head against Kurama's hand, pushing underneath it until he starts petting me. His mom…I swear you can see the moment her heart melts when she sees her son playing with a kitten. She reaches over and strokes me, her nails running along my back. Man, that feels good. I think I'm going to buy a backscratcher when I turn back into a human. I'd forgotten how awesome this feels.

"I should…uhm…I'm going to head out," Yusuke says. Minamino-san and Kurama both walk him to the door, me in tow. They both say their goodbyes to Yusuke, who seems a bit too much in a hurry to leave. Maybe it's for the best, considering Minamino-san doesn't realize I was 'left behind' until it's too late. She stares at me, her eyes continuously flickering to Kurama.

Minamino-san runs a hand through her hair as she sighs. You can tell she wants to say something. At the same time, she's probably too in awe over the fact that her son—who used to be so distant, mind you—is playing with a kitten. Kurama hands me off to his mother, asking if she would please hold me for a moment. Now I'm being cradled by my boyfriend's mom. Fan-freaking-tastic.

"What's her name?" Minamino-san asks as Kurama steps out of the room. I highly doubt he was paying much attention considering he told her _my _name. Not something made-up, nope. He flat out said Sunako. "Uh…isn't that…your girl—classmate's name is Sunako, isn't it?" Should I be worried that she didn't bring herself to say girlfriend?

Kurama tenses when he realizes his mistake. His eyes fall to me, and I'm doing my best to give him the kitten version of a 'smooth move, ex-lax' look. I think I'm doing it pretty well. Considering he glared at me for a moment there. Kurama picks me up out of his mother's arms and chuckles at the 'coincidence'. His mother and him talk for a moment more then Kurama is carrying me up the stairs to his room. He shuts the door behind him then tosses me onto the bed. Ugh; he's not gentle at all, is he? I mean, sure it'd be romantic to be thrown on his bed if I were human…but I'm in a kitten body right now. I'm fragile.

I roll around on his blankets when the bed dips under his weight. Kurama lays down on his stomach, pushing me so that he doesn't smoosh me. I relax onto my belly as well, my nose touching the tip of his. I lick his nose, and his hands start rubbing my back.

"Y'know, I actually think this is pretty creepy," I say, stretching my paws and kneading his blankets. One of my claws get stuck. Kurama has to help me get it loose.

"How so?"

"Well…you're in a human body…I'm in a kitty body…" Kurama sighs then chuckles. "Could you _please_ tell me how to transform?"

"In a minute," he says then, smirking in a way that has me nervous, he sits up. Sudden movement catches my attention and I pounce. Oh crap. Why the fuck is my boyfriend such a sadist? He moves his hand quickly in the opposite direction. I try not to pounce. My entire body is trembling. He moves it quickly again, and I literally twitch—then pounce.

"This is _not_ funny," I say, all the while chasing after his hand. "Stop being a manipulative asshole."

Kurama laughs, grabs me up, and rolls onto his back. He sets me on his stomach and scratches my back. "Just relax." I grumble under my breath but do as he says. It's hard not to when he's basically giving me a nice back scratch and massage rolled into one. I close my eyes, stretching out my paws, trying to lay as flat as possible. It feels sooo goo—holy crap, I'm naked. He's rubbing my naked back.

I open my mouth to scream, but his hand literally slaps down on my face, muffling all noise that leaves me. I relax almost immediately. Kurama shifts so that he can cover my nakedness with his sheets. He places either of his hands on the side of my head. Our noses touch then his lips are on top of mine. I close my eyes, ready to melt as he kisses me. My eyes blink open and I give him a look of confusion when he parts after only one quick kiss.

"You need to turn back into a kitten."

The look on my face must be incredulous. What the hell is wrong with this guy? Here I am, naked and in his bed…and he wants me to turn into a kitten? A _kitten!_ Are you fucking kidding me? I start to gather his sheets around me, twisting them around and around until they are no longer tucked under his mattress. I literally kick Kurama off of me, roll of the bed, and head towards his door. There are literally tears forming in my eyes. I feel so humiliated.

I'm not even going to bring up the fact that it took a miracle to turn back into a human. He doesn't like me like this, or what?

"You're such an ass!" I choke out, trying to stop the tears. I feel like an idiot. An embarrassed idiot, that is. "I'm breaking up with you. I never want to see—mmf mmmf…mmm." I growl a bit as he holds me in place. One hand is covering my mouth and the other is wrapped around my waist. My back is against his stomach. The hand around my waist lowers itself….and no. "Mmou hmmhmm hmm." My warning of 'you better not' did not come out so clearly, but I'm guessing he got the message considering his hand stopped moving.

He nuzzles the side of my face with his forehead. I relax in his arms a bit. Knowing I'll be quiet, Kurama removes his hand from my mouth. "I told my mom that I'd be taking the kitten—you—home. Yusuke is handing your clothes to Hiei, who'll meet us in the park."

"And I wasn't part of the planning process why?" I think I should have had a say in this.

Kurama sighs, his arms tight around me. "We did not have much time to plan at all, Sunako." Okay, fine. This _is_ true. "Now, let's just focus on you turning into a kitten…"

Am I the only one who thinks he's trying to get rid of me?

"And here I thought I could hang out in your room all day…all naked in your sheets…" His hands start to move lower. I feign a sigh, grab his hands and move them off of me. I pull myself away from Kurama and shrug. "But obviously you're just in a hurry to get rid of me…"

Kurama smiles at me, his eyes wandering up and down my body. I try to ignore his eyes as I walk over to his dresser and rummage through his drawers. I pull out one of his longer shirts—I don't think I've ever seen him wear this one—and pull it over my head. It reaches a little past my thighs. I pull out a pair of his boxers, think better of it, and put them back. The whole time, he's standing over there watching me. Well, if he's not worried about me going through his drawers, I know for future reference he uses a different hiding place than that.

"Please turn back into a kitten," Kurama says just as my hands wrap around a pair of pants I was going to put on. I frown, my eyes glued to the pants in my hands. "If you want to talk more about Yomi, I understand. However, we won't be able to do that until we leave my house."

"And you can't leave the house unless I'm a cat?" I sound skeptical, I know I do. When I look at him, Kurama is frowning. Not amused at all. If anything, I'd bet he's getting frustrated. Well, tough toenails. It's not as though he's made this easy on me either.

All the same, I push the pants back down into the drawer. I sit down cross-legged on the floor and focus on turning back into a kitten. He acts as though this is easy when it's not. Although, for whatever reason, it is easier to turn into a kitten than it is to turn back into a human. I try to think kitty thoughts. Hmm…like going after quick-moving objects. Yeah. Being small, pouncing…and…yes! I did it!

"Should I be worried I'm getting good at this?"

I climb out of Kurama's sheets and shirt then run to him with my short legs. Darn these short legs. He scoops me up as he replies, "Not necessarily." Hmm.

I fall completely silent as he turns, opens the door to his room, and heads down the stairs. If you ask me, I think he had an inkling that I was going to transform back into a human. It's probably why he took me to his room in the first place. We pass by Minamino-san on the way out. She smiles at the two of us and tells Kurama to please be back in time for dinner. Waving, he says that he will.

"I can't believe you're leaving me tonight. What did you tell your mother? I can't believe you're leaving your mother like that," I say when we're out of hearing range of anybody. I huff as best as I can in my kitten body. "I mean…well, Hiei will be missed but he doesn't have family here. And Yusuke pretty much does whatever the hell he wants anyhow. But you? Your mother's getting married! You're going to miss her wedding?"

"I'm not leaving tonight like Yusuke and Hiei are," Kurama says, cutting me off before I can say anything more. I stop talking and just blink. I run through the previous conversations in my mind. I guess it was Yusuke who said the thing about leaving tonight. "I will be going to see Yomi, however I will go during our summer vacation."

"That's like…two months away." Hard to believe how fast time is flying. (1)

"It is…" His voice trails off for a moment. We've entered the park. Kurama is making his ways towards the tree. I'm still wondering if Hiei lives in one of these trees. Or maybe one of these trees is just his favorite. I wonder which one it is? "I've saved up enough money and plan on purchasing an overseas vacation that will last two months for my mother and her husband for their honeymoon."

"Oh geez. Mister Mastermind here," I say, turning my head so that I can look at him. "You're very diabolical, do you know that?"

His response is to smile at me. Next second Hiei is stepping out from behind one of the trees. He blinks at me then diverts his attention to Kurama, who is setting me on the ground. The two guys start discussing this whole ordeal with demon world, although neither of them goes into much detail. My guess is that Hiei already knows that Kurama isn't going there right away.

I scurry behind the tree Hiei popped out of and find my clothes there. Now, to figure out how to turn into a human again. Let's see… Well, I could try thinking human thoughts. But every human thinks differently so—no, no. I'm overthinking this. I just need to relax, like Kurama told me to before. There, relaxing. I sit down on the ground next to my clothes. I fly buzzes by my head. I wonder if I ate it if I could absorb its powers. Do flies even have powers?

"She has a very short attention span," I hear Hiei say. Damn him. Reading my mind. Huh. He doesn't do it as much when I'm human. Maybe animals have more open minds; I mean, Kurama said Hiei technically isn't a mind-reader like that one guy we met back when we were looking for Sensui. The one who made my think of myself naked… I kind of feel bad that he's dead. I wonder what his parents were told? I don't even know how old he was. Maybe I should have asked him?

Wow, okay. I think I just proved Hiei's point. I do have a short attention span. Damn it. Now, Sunako, focus. Become a human. _Foooooccuuuuuussssss_! Nope.

"It's like I'm destined to be a cat…foreeevverrrr," I whine out. Sudden movement catches my eye and I pounce. Oooh! "I caught the fly!"

"Uh…congratulations, Sunako," I hear Kurama say as he steps into view. He's probably looking at me funny since I just ate the bug. I can't say I blame him. I narrow my eyes. "I promise not to tell anyone about that."

"Good."

"You honestly have not caught onto what triggers your transformation back?" He cocks his head to the side and gets this innocent look. It's all lies. Kurama is anything but innocent. I glare at him. "When you went to grab the bag of cookies from Mura, what did you do?"

"Lunge." I blink as I say this. He inhales deeply, pauses then releases his breath. "Reached for it?" The corner of his mouth twitches. You can tell he's trying not to smile.

"Thinking of what you did there, what did you do that was similar when you transformed in my room."

"Well, I _was_ thinking how nice it'd be to be a human again both times."

"Yes, that does begin the process. It's why I had a feeling you would turn back into a human soon."

"So there's a second part?" He sighs. Okay. Lunging, reaching…they both deal with something I did while in Kurama's room. All I remember is him making me chase after his hand, our noses touching…and then me stretching out on his stomach. Wait! That's it! "So I stretch, right?"

"It's a shifting motion, yes. You relax, focus on becoming human, and stretch into that form."

And he couldn't tell me this before, why?

"Okay, so go away now. I'm going to transform." He hesitates then leaves. Pervy guy. I guess some things don't change.

Once I'm certain he can't see me anymore, I relax. Focus on becoming a human and stretch my paws in front of me. Wow. I have hands again! Huzzah! I quickly throw on my clothes. As I'm pulling up my pants the rest of the way, I hop out from behind the tree, all excited. Hiei blinks—he actually just blinked!—as he catches a brief look at my panties. He says nothing. I have effectively rendered Hiei speechless—success is mine!

"Although he's typically speechless anyhow," I say, crossing my arms over my chest and nodding. Hiei narrows his eyes. I take a step backwards, holding up my hands defensively. "There's nothing wrong it, chill out."

Suddenly I remember that he's leaving. I think I'm going to miss him. After all the fun times we've had…him reading my mind. Me thinking at one time that him and Kurama had a thing going on. Him telling Kurama that I had that weird thing going on for his mom. Reminds me of the song…except, instead of Stacy's mom, it's Shuichi's mom. Hiei and I hanging out at my house eating ice cream. That's it!

I clap my hands together, causing Kurama and Hiei to eye me suspiciously. "We should go out for ice cream as a goodbye meal!"

"I thought your parents have you on a strict sugar diet."

I shrug, holding my hands palm-up on either side of me. "I thought you were an awesome boyfriend, but I guess not." He shakes his head. Hiei and Kurama turn and start walking away. Déjà vu anyone? "This better not be a repeat of the time I was a cat. Because now I have longer legs. I can totally keep up with you."

"Oh?" they both say in unison…then disappear. Fuck. I hum to myself for a moment or two. Shuichi's mom has got it going on…she's all that I want and I've waited for so long…okay. I feel like they honestly just left. Oh no. What if they did? What if I'm all alone here?

"I….I was totally just kidding." I look around. "Why is it that he always leaves me abandoned in forests and tree-filled places?"

Kurama causes me to jump when his voice sounds from behind me. "I can assure you, I do _not_ have a habit of abandoning you." I give him a look that says it all; I don't believe him. "I'll admit, it does happen from time to time, however I hardly have any control of these occurrences…the majority of the time."

I think that's the best I'm going to get. He pushes off the tree he was leaning against and walks over to me. Wrapping an arm around my waist, he starts leading me out of the trees. Hiei is waiting for us in the clearing. Well, I guess it's a good thing I brought my wallet. I'm totally treating this time.

"Also, they make sugar free ice cream," I say, pushing Kurama so that he falls into a tree before taking off running. I have a feeling that I'm going to regret that when he catches me.

-1-1-1-1-1-

1) The Japanese school year begins in April, so summer vacation comes between the first and second terms. Homework is often given so kids won't forget what they learned in the first term.

For more information on Japanese schools, I've been using rubymoon dot org back-slash school.


	3. Chapter 3

This one's a shorter chapter, but I think it contains plenty in terms of plot development. Either way, I hope everyone enjoys! Happy fourth of July!

-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-

Chapter 3: Resolve

As I continue to run away from Kurama, who I'm thinking is allowing me a bit of a head start, the world decides to spin again. I close my eyes to stop some of dizziness from entering my brain. It does help a little. When I open them again, everything around me is no longer revolving, but is instead a bit fuzzy. I suppose this is something of an improvement. Still able to see where I am going, I manage to avoid crashing into anything. I can hear Kurama close behind me at this time. No doubt he's giving me some extra time so that he can think up a nice plan for revenge. I just hope he doesn't push me into the slide that's coming up. That would pretty much suck.

I run in an arc that deviates from the slide. I can hear Kurama's laughter behind me. Either he knows why I'm paranoid, or he's amused that I figured out his plan. I honestly could not tell you which is true. All in all, I'm starting to think my boyfriend is a little bit creepy with his mastermind ways. Then again, I've (almost) always thought that Kurama was creepy. He's just so quiet a lot of the time, and you _know_ he's thinking about...well, stuff. Sinister stuff. Evil mastermind stuff.

I'm literally a foot away from the sidewalk when all of a sudden I'm tackled from behind. I land on the ground and the air is knocked out of my lungs. Oomph. Just like that. And now there's a body on top of me. I'm going to assume here that Kurama has managed to catch up to me. Not that it was a difficult task for him or anything. I blink several times, the grass becoming clearer each time.

"Hmm." I furrow my brow in confusion when I hear that come out of Kurama's mouth. He moves off of me, waits until I sit up to face him, and then he cocks his head to the side. He studies me for a few moments in silence. What's he up to? "Transforming those times has nearly depleted your energy. I suppose I'll have to let you off the hook this time, eh?"

Now that he mentions it, I do feel quite a bit weaker in the reiki department. Could be why I have a sudden craving for sugar, as well as the subsequent sugar rush.

I smile, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. "Y'mean you're going to challenge me to a duel later? It'll be like old times, you know." I giggle insanely as a thought, a memory, runs through my head. Kurama's eyes widen a fraction of an inch and he stares at me curiously. I wave my hand. "I was just thinking...you'll have no forest to..." I laugh again then tap a lone finger against my chin. "At least I won't have to worry about you shacking up with fox girl."

His face is something between amused, embarrassed and indignant. It's been quite some time since I've seen Kurama _this_ flustered. Hiei catches up to us, and he's smirking as he looks at Kurama. Kurama shoots Hiei a warning look then his face once more becomes a mask of innocence. Hoo boy. Something tells me I _don't_ want to know what he's thinking, but no doubt I'll find out shortly.

Sure enough, he leans close until his mouth is at my ear. I swallow hard upon feeling his warm breath on me. I'm nearly tickled by that rush of air as he whispers, "Perhaps _you'll_ be the one left in an aroused state this time, Sunako." The way he says my name, slowly pronouncing each syllable so that he drags out the threat, leaves me shuddering.

As though nothing just passed between us, Kurama stands up and offers me his hand. I blink at it then slowly, eyeing the limb warily, I accept. He pulls me into a standing position. Hiei and Kurama begin walking once more towards the ice cream parlor. I just stand still for a moment. Then, after a deep breath to calm my rapidly beating heart, I take the first step to catch up. In no time flat, I'm practically jogging after them; a thought crosses my mind at this scenario. I almost choke up when I think, it _always_ feels like I'll be hurrying to catch up to these two—in fact, to all four of the boys. And, when it comes down to it, I don't know if I'll actually manage to ever be on the same level they are.

I shake off the thought almost immediately; there's no reason to think like that. Even if I never am as strong as Yusuke or Kurama or the other boys, there isn't anything to be disappointed about. The only reason I need more power is to ensure that Rugia doesn't get the better of me. Otherwise, I'm not much into fighting. Looking at it that way, I suddenly feel giddy once more.

I catch up to Hiei and Kurama, the latter of which grabs my hand with his. I smile and thread my fingers into his. Kurama's thumb caresses the back of my hand.

I mentally count the money I have received so far from babysitting. We're about a block away from the ice cream parlor. After buying ice cream for the three of us, I should still have enough left to cover my cell phone bill. Either way, even if it's short, I'll give the money to my dad. If it is short, I'll just give him all the money from next time I get paid. That should take care of things for a while. What's important now is spending a little bit of time with Hiei. Who knows when I'll see him next—he always seemed hell-bent on returning to the Makai. Maybe he won't even want to come back.

We enter the ice cream shop and walk up to the counter. You can see all the different kinds of ice cream that are available. It has my mouth watering. I wonder if they have ice cream in the Makai? Maybe Hiei will _have_ to come back…for the ice cream. I slide a quick glance over to Hiei at that thought. He blinks a few times as he takes in the various kinds of what he refers to as 'sweet snow'. His terminology of it…I wonder if the first time he had a cold treat, I wonder if it was a snow cone?

"You can pick multiple flavors," I say. I'm not sure if Hiei has been inside a parlor before like this. He's been in stores, but that's a little bit different. From what Kurama has said of him, Hiei usually has ice cream when Minamino-san already has it in the house. "Up to three if you do a three-scoop cone or bowl."

"Hn." Okay then.

Let's try it this way. Make Hiei _have_ to talk. "But…you have to tell the lady what you want." He narrows his eyes slightly as he looks at me. Almost as though he's pretty suspicious. I grin widely, and Kurama's shoulders are shaking in silent laughter. We both know not to take things too far; there's no need to upset Hiei when this is his day with us.

-Makai; Rugia's POV-

I glance sidelong at Itari as the annoying ram-like demon prattles on incessantly in regards to his former position as head during my absence. He gloats more than I remember, his own words pampering and praising him. Itari runs a hand down his beard, his fingers joining together as they reach its end. I quirk a single brow, feign interest, and allow my gaze to return to Saito. Saito, my third-in-command, allows his serpentine eyes to wander along Itari's throat. It is no mystery what thoughts Saito is entertaining. I run my tongue over my lips, which quirk upwards into a small grin.

Saito moves in his usual, disjointed way of weaving, retreating, pressing forward. It is much like watching a dying individual scramble forward along a sandy beach. The lurching, the awkwardness… He wraps one arm about Itari's collarbone, his other hand placed atop my second-in-command's head. Saito jerks Itari's head backwards. Itari reacts, his claws sinking into Saito's flesh. Much too late. Saito's jaw, a large size of ten inches in diameter, has already opened to reveal his four rows of sharp teeth, which have sunk into Itari's scalp. The crunching of his skull, the drip-dropping noises of his blood falling to the cave floor…

"Really now, Saito, don't eat _that_," I say, my lips curling upwards in disgust. "It's filthy."

Saito responds in kind, slipping his jaw away from the dead ram and twisting his hands until there is more crackling to be heard. Itari's corpse falls to the ground in a broken heap as I flex my knees, rising to stand. Saito lurches to my side, his left arm draping over my shoulder. I stare for a moment at his tongue as it drips red onto both his and my clothing. Itari's revolting stench permeates through the air. One would think his demise would spare us of this inconvenience.

"Your crow reached the human world, correct?" I inquire while running a finger along the forming stain on my shirt. Saito responds with nothing more than a nod. "She received the letter, did she? It followed her scent, that's good, that's very good."

Saito and I walk over the filthy bag of bones that litters the cave floor. I shall make a note to instruct either Horus or Juon to remove it later. The light drizzle flattens my hair and causes my ears to twitch. It would be better if it were pouring; a little drop here and a tiny bit there is more of a nuisance than out-and-out getting drenched. Saito twists his neck to look skyward. The low rumble of thunder slices through the clouds.

Saito's voice holds a mixture of a gurgle and hiss when he speaks. It's a guttural noise that slips deliciously off his tongue. "The fox was there, he was." I frown at the mention of Kurama. I suppose this should not come as a surprise in the very least. Sunako is quite smitten with him. "You look…upset, Rugia. Don't be."

"It's a nuisance. I abhor the fox." I seize my forefinger with my teeth, my eyes narrowed. Removing the digit from its prison, I turn to face Saito. He is grinning in a manner that reveals to me he knows something. Something that will interest me, to be certain. "Yes?"

"King Yomi called the fox," Saito says, moving closer to me. "And he has said, he has promised not to interfere should you decide to act upon need."

I cross my arms over my chest and cock my head to the side. "Kurama will be his guest, the girl is Kurama's current toy… Surely he requires something of me if he is promising leniency."

"Just your loyalty. He wants to build up his army for when Raizen passes on." Saito genuflects before me, falling into a rather submissive stance. "I'm for whatever you are, Rugia. If he allows you a generous position in the army where you still reside over us, why not?"

Thought-provoking…insightful. Saito truly is superior to the late Itari. "Very well. Let us inform Horus and Juon—we're heading for Gandara."

Saito's rows of teeth show as he grins. "Of course, Rugia. It will be fun." I can hardly suppress my own elation; my hands are trembling and my eyes are wide. No matter the outcome of my meeting with Yomi, things will be fun indeed.

-Human World; Sunako's POV-

I roll onto my stomach as I lie in bed. If I'm accurate on the time, right now Yusuke and Hiei are leaving for the Makai. I'd see them off if my parents hadn't objected. They still have me on a tight leash when it comes to coming and going at all hours of the night. I sigh and turn over onto my back again. My mind is racing a million miles a minute. I'm not sure if I'm going to get _any_ sleep tonight the way things are going. The only comfort I have at this point is that Kurama is staying here for another two months. But then...then he leaves anyway.

Frowning, I pull my pillow out from under my head and bury my face into it. I want to scream so loud, but I don't. Things wouldn't be so bad if I knew for a fact that Kurama wasn't going to stay in the Makai. And what the heck does Yomi want him there for anyway? Fighting, most likely. A war, from the sound of things.

I sit up in bed, my legs crossed and my pillow resting atop them. If that's true then either Kurama is going to get killed, or…well, I wonder if he will enjoy battling and killing? He seemed ecstatic back when he was fighting Sensui in the Makai. Sometimes I forget that Kurama is a demon. I forget that when he lived in the Makai he was a thief, and who knows how many people he killed? The way everyone has ever described it, I know Kurama used to be cold-blooded. He never cared about others' feelings. Heck, he _blinded_ Yomi by hiring an assassin.

I pull my knees up to my chest, burying my face in the pillow. "I don't want _that_ Kurama," I whisper into the fluff. "I don't want…" I swallow hard. Fighting off the tears that are threatening to form, I decide to take a stance in this. Even if I'm not as powerful as Kurama, even if I never will be…

I'm going to make sure Kurama stays the way he is now and doesn't revert back into a cold-blooded murderer….even if I have to go to the Makai with him! …I just hope I don't run into Rugia at all.


	4. Chapter 4

This one is another short chapter, but it's to help lead into things that are going to be going on for a bit. I really hope everyone is enjoying this so far. Feedback is much appreciated!

-1-1-1-1-1-

Chapter 4: Plans for Training

I keep tapping my foot on the ground, although I try to be as quiet as possible. My mind is still racing from the fact that currently Hiei and Yusuke are in the Makai. And who knows what the hell they're doing there. I blink, trying to focus my attention on the math problem the teacher is writing on the board. I'm chewing on my bottom lip, not able to fully appreciate its sheer awesomeness. Who knew there'd be a day when math wouldn't grab my attention like it usually does? Something is wrong with the world. I narrow my eyes, a frown on my lips. Something is wrong, indeed.

The final bell rings, startling me. I glance around the room several times before my attention settles on the board. Thank goodness the teacher wrote the assignment there. Otherwise, I'd be having to try to fish that information from my friends, and I have a growing suspicion that they might force me to bribe them. I jot down the assignment into my planner then rise from my seat.

Mayu meets up with me in the hallway, and we go first to her locker and then mine. Kurama and Kaito are talking, which means I'll probably have to leave them behind for now to hurry home. If I miss my curfew, I'm pretty sure my parents will murder me. Then maybe they'll dump my body in a way where they can stage the murder to look like a suicide. Or maybe they'll try to frame Kurama. Thinking about that, it's probably a good thing that my parents love me too much to kill me in any case.

Mayu and I are out of the building before Kaito and Kurama catch up to us. Kaito smirks a bit when he catches my eye. "The way you were staring blankly at the board, Sunako, I'd say you might lose your touch with math. Perhaps this year I'll top your grades."

"The hell you will. My Blue-Eyes White Dragon will defeat your Dark Magician any day!" I snap. Kurama gives me a strange look and begins to open his mouth, but I cut him off. "You won't win either! All your plants? Yeah, I can smoke them with my Flaming Cerberus once I fuse together my Flame Manipulator and the Frenzied Beast." (1)

Kaito, Kurama, and Mayu all stop walking. I take a few more steps before I stop as well. I turn to face my friends, who are all looking at me as though I've grown five extra heads. But what can I say? I've been watching two young kids who happen to love a certain television show that has card duels. The only thing I can say for myself? I didn't bring up that I would totally get all of their star chips without breaking a sweat.

"You know, you've really been acting strange today," Mayu says, stepping forward to feel my forehead. I frown a bit but do not comment. "Earlier, you nearly freaked out when your pencil rolled under someone's desk and they wouldn't grab it for you." I resist telling her that I was afraid I'd turn into a kitten if I started to crawl around on the floor. I'm trying to limit my transformations. And by that, I mean not do them in public places. Such as school.

For that reason alone, I wave off her comment with a shrug. Mayu, of course, ponders aloud if I have reverted back to my sugar diet. This makes me frown. Then I narrow my eyes at her and just stare. Who is this person, doubting my self-control like this? She simply flashes me a grin, hooks her arm into mine, and starts dragging me off towards my house. Of course, that doesn't work out too well considering she crashed me right into the sign that was previously behind me.

"Y'know…it's a good thing I _do_ wear my backpack on my stomach. Otherwise that would've hurt," I say, scooting away from the metal pole as Mayu apologizes a few times.

She and I resume walking, this time steering clear of any obstacles. Mayu wants to go to the bookstore that's close by to my house, and that is why we've agreed to walk together today. Otherwise, Mayu lives the opposite way. Kaito has headed in the direction of his home too, whereas Kurama is trailing behind Mayu and me. Suddenly I feel a bit self-conscious, knowing his eyes are on my back. I shift, pull off my backpack, and put it on the right away so that it covers my butt. There we go.

"Perhaps I should get a messenger back for a Christmas gift," Kurama chimes in, his tone that polite façade of innocence he likes to use when trying to get his way. I purse my bottom lip forward and refuse to comment. So he was staring at my ass! "What color would you like?"

"No."

Mayu furrows her brows as she looks over at me. "That's not very nice, Sunako. If he wants to get you a gift, then—" I sigh and she cuts off mid-sentence. I seriously doubt she realized why he wants to get me a messenger bag, and I think it'd be pretty awkward for her if I did tell her. So instead I'll keep my silence on the matter.

The three of us walk for another two minutes in silence. During that time we bypassed a barking dog, which scared the crap out of me so that I wound up jumping a foot in the opposite direction. Maybe it's the cat-side of me that reacted. That dog has barked at me every time I've passed by it. It never bothered me before. Although Mayu and Kurama both smiled at my reaction, neither of them made fun of me at all. I'm thankful for that, that's for sure.

As we turn a corner onto the next street, Mayu perks up a bit. I follow her gaze to a magic shop. I blink a few times. Man, I had forgotten that Mayu likes magic tricks. I just got an idea!

"Ku-Shuichi," I say, catching myself last minute. Wow, is that a switch. I used to struggled to call him Kurama, and now? Strange. I turn around and Kurama stops walking, tilting his head to the side. "You should show Mayu that magic trick."

Mayu's eyes widen a bit in excitement. She looks at Kurama with a newly found interest. Kurama, meanwhile, is blinking. Okay, perhaps that is a bit vague. Especially with the fact that he's pretty secretive when it comes to his powers.

I bounce a bit on my toes. "You know…where you make a rose appear out of thin air." He stares at me in a deadpan for a moment.

"You'd have me perform tricks like a circus actor?" There's a warning note in his voice; he doesn't want to take things too far. I know the limit, however. He should realize that without me having to tell him.

I show my teeth as I smile. "Please? For me?" I say it somewhat suggestively, mimicking the way he had spoken to me after the whole Sunako-Kurama-forest incident. The corner of his mouth twitches, but he successfully fights off the smile.

Mayu stares at Kurama with rapt attention. I watch him as well, waiting to see if he'll humor me—and therefore my best friend. I'm not disappointed. He does a gesture with his left hand that garners Mayu's attention then uses his right hand to grab a seed out of his hair—I really need to figure out where he keeps all those things—and uses his yoki to form a rose. Mayu's eyes snap back to the rose, which he hands to her. Mayu holds the stem of the rose, staring at it with her mouth slightly agape. You can tell she doesn't quite believe it at all.

I tense a bit, startled, when Kurama wraps an arm around my shoulders. I duck my head, peeking up at him. Instead of seeing the expression I was expecting—one that promised retribution for pushing him into this—he's smiling. His eyes are soft, and he looks so…calm. He has the expression he gets whenever he's near his mother; this is how I know he's truly enjoying himself right now.

The three of us, slowly but surely, begin walking once more in the direction of my house. Mayu no longer wants to go into the magic shop; now that Kurama has shown her that trick, I'm pretty sure she's trying to work out in her mind how he managed it. I have an urge to tell Mayu about everything revolving around reiki, but know it won't do much good. Keeping her out of the loop in this case could actually be what's necessary to keep her safe. Telling my parents was one thing; they were starting to become suspicious of things what with me leaving at random times of the day.

Mayu bids us farewell when we arrive at the doorway to the bookstore she wants to visit. I wave, have her promise to call me when she gets home so we can chat, and then Kurama and I continue walking. I ask him why he's following me, but he only hums in response. It's not much of an answer, if you ask me.

"My parents might not like it if you come home with me. I still haven't gotten my grades back from the makeup essays," I say, watching him from the corner of my eyes.

Kurama's lips quirk into a grin. "I wouldn't worry about it, Sunako. I plan to ask your father and mother if I can assist you in your training. I doubt Rugia is going to leave you be for much longer. You need to be prepared for that."

My gaze drops to the ground. I hadn't really thought of it that way. I know that Rugia's hell-bent on getting his powers back, but I thought he wouldn't be able to come back into the human world. I had figured that, so long as I stayed here, he would not be able to get me. Then again, I suppose he could try to get a weaker demon to kidnap me. Do his bidding and what-not. I frown at those thoughts. I don't know why those escaped me before.

"Yeah, training would be good, wouldn't it?" My voice is quiet, just above a whisper. "Although you better not beat me up too much, if my parents _do _agree." He laughs at that and says that he's not making any promises. Oh joy.

I open the door to my house, move aside for Kurama to come in, and then close it once more. He and I head towards the living room, where I can hear the television on. My dad and mom are curled up together on the couch watching a movie. When they notice both of us standing here, my dad pauses the movie and my parents stand up. My father looks from me to Kurama and back again. He's waiting for an explanation for why my boyfriend is here. I elbow Kurama in the gut gently, wanting him to take the initiative.

He gets the message. "Hayakawa-san," he starts, inclining his head briefly in greeting; my father mimics the action. "Due to the issue of Rugia, I am requesting your permission to train Sunako in her spare time."

My father's mouth is a stern line that breaks apart as he opens his mouth in response. "With her barriers?" He doesn't refer to my powers as having anything to do with reiki a lot of the time. Whenever we discuss my abilities, he only calls them 'barriers'.

Kurama blinks and says, "That, but also her ability to create bows and arrows. She needs to improve her offense as well as her defense. Rugia should not be able to get her, as he is currently trapped in the Makai due to his power level. Unfortunately, he may send an agent to drag her there. With proper training she should—"

"—be able to ward off such an attack," my father finishes for him with a nod. He turns, looks at my mother, and my parents partake in one of those nonverbal conversations. I shift nervously on my feet, once again wishing I could occasionally read minds. After a bit, my dad turns back around and nods again. "That sounds reasonable. Yes. We'll work out a new schedule for her."

My mother is completely silent throughout this all, and I know why. The thought of Rugia still upsets her. She's pissed off at him yet knows she can't do anything about him. In all honesty, I think she has several murderous urges towards him per day.

She clears her throat then asks, "Would you like to stay for a while? I'll prepare a snack for while the two of you do your homework."

Kurama and I smile at my mom. I'm pretty hungry so the idea of a snack is rather appealing. When she moves towards the kitchen, Kurama and I head for the dining room table. We set down our book bags, pull out our homework, and take a seat. It shouldn't be more than an hour to ninety minutes' worth of work here. I, of course, begin on my beloved math homework right away. Kurama, meanwhile, starts on his chemistry homework. Hmm. I'll probably do that one next; we're balancing equations, which has to do with math as well.

What I'm _not_ looking forward to doing is my history homework. It's yet another essay, albeit a mini one that shouldn't take much time. Frankly, I'm tired of doing essays and research papers after my makeup work.

"I wasn't aware Mayu liked magic tricks," Kurama says as he writes out an answer to one of the problems on his paper.

I shrug. "It's been about four years that she's been interested in magic tricks. She has about ten that she's really good at. And….ah, thank you for doing that."

His foot nudges my leg under the table. "It was nothing." He runs his foot up and down a few times, the toes caressing. My toes curl in my socks until I move my leg away. I'm pretty sure my face is a pinch flushed. I glance up at him, catch his eye, and we both smile. "Maybe later we can duel." I blink before catching onto what he's implying.

"You mean with Yugioh cards? I don't have any." I glance over my shoulder towards the living room and jab at it with the eraser of my pencil. "I have a video game of it though. We could use that sometime. Maybe after you help me train…as a way to wind down and relax, you know?"

"That sounds nice," he tells me.

A large grin crosses over my face. I'm a lot more happy to hear that than I'd thought I'd be. I guess this is one of those childish/childhood things that you never grow out of. Wanting to beat someone playing videogames. I mean, after all, it's not like I could ever beat him in a real battle. In videogames? You bet your ass I can, and I _will_.

-1-1-1-

1. I don't know if it's sad or not, but I knew that fusion off the top of my head from a YGO game I haven't played in over a year.

Thanks for reading this chapter! I hope to have the next one out relatively soon. In the meantime, if you would be so inclined, drop me a note of your thoughts!


	5. Chapter 5

I do want to apologize for the delay between updates. I started this chapter shortly after posting the previous one. A few times I had family visit, which delayed my writing, and then a few medical/family emergencies came up. Things are pretty emotional in the family/my life right now. Please bear with me; I'll do all that I can to update generously. Thank you so much for all your patience and understanding!

-1-1-1-1-

Chapter 5: Battle Tactics

It did not take us too long to finish up our homework. Afterwards, Kurama was able to convince my dad and mom to take us to an archery range they have a few miles from my house. I've never been here before, so I'm pretty excited. Kurama says that it's best to improve my aim on stationary objects first. When I get pretty good at this, he's promised that he and I will be training one-on-one. I'm a little bit nervous to get too good now. Kurama does not go easy on people, and also I'm not sure I want to be firing arrows at someone I care about. It seems a bit weird, if you ask me—even if it _is_ all for the better.

Dad pulls into one of the free parking spaces. He and my mom exit the car first. I slide a quick glance to Kurama before the two of us also leave the car. If it wasn't for the fact that you need to have parental consent for this place, Kurama and I would have come here alone. Sorta like a date. Ah well; I guess I'll just count my lucky stars that my parents are agreeing to let me be trained at all. Plus, my mom seemed pretty excited about getting to watch me shoot arrows. It's not often we do weird family activities like this. Heck, maybe I can even convince my parents to also try a hand at archery. Now _that _would be pretty spiffy.

Kurama's hand reaches for mine as we head towards the office building. I entwine my fingers in his, and his thumb rubs up and down along the back of my hand. A small smile comes to my face. Who would've thought that training could be done in such a relaxing atmosphere. Every other time I had to train, it seems something horrible was about to happen. First there was the tournament and then there was Sensui. Granted, Kurama does plan on leaving for the Makai in a few months—and I plan to either stop or join him to ensure he doesn't get sucked into the dark side—it just doesn't seem as urgent as those other two events. Or perhaps it seems that way only because I'm in the dark on what's really going on behind the scenes.

I narrow my eyes for a fraction of a second at that thought then mentally shake it away. I'll shelve that for another time. Maybe draw up possible scenarios on the way what's going on in the Makai could affect the human world. In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy this archery range and perhaps get a few pointers from Kurama on ways to improve my aim.

-Makai; Rugia's POV-

Saito lurches about the room in a parody of pacing. I watch him for several seconds, my head cocked to the side. Yomi, the blind king, has provided my men with room board for the time being while he and I work out the trivial matters revolving around my serving him. At this time Horus and Juon are in the dining hall, mingling with members of Yomi's army. Gandara has proven to be quite interesting in terms of its militia. Saito is perhaps the only one of us four who has become agitated by our stay; this is largely due to his appetite—he wishes to consume a number of Yomi's servants but has been denied this privilege by both the blind king and myself.

Saito moves once more to my side and suggests that the pair of us head towards the dining hall. The rumble of his stomach is quiet, almost silent even, and yet still I find that I can hear it. For that reason alone I decide that perhaps it would be better if I humor him with my company. Lest, of course, he choose to disregard Yomi's orders and try to dine on a weaker individual. Amusing at that could be, I do so enjoy having Saito as my second-in-command. For this reason, I accompany Saito to the door. He allows me to leave first; luckily, I have no reason to fear being stabbed in the back by Saito. Even if he should, in the future, have such an urge, my reflexes are quicker.

Saito slinks noiselessly behind me; only his overwhelming aura gives him away. Prior to my death, I had used Saito's skills to my advantage by appointing him to position of primary assassin. His level of patience has improved due to this, which is rather a good thing. Previously he would lash out almost as much as my previous second-in-command.

I am unsurprised when Saito and I cross paths with Yomi on our way to the dining hall. His lip quirks upward for a moment; apparently he was on his way to fetch me. I am under no misconception—he knew I was coming the moment Saito suggested it in our room. I do envy his sensitive hearing. How advantageous that must be, to know every spoken word within your kingdom. This must prevent many assassination attempts that more foolish demons may have attempted before his rise to power.

"I would like to steal you for some time," Yomi begins, touching my elbow briefly, "to discuss some minor details, and perhaps gather some information you may hold."

I nod towards Saito dismissively, and my second in command lurches away subsequent to offering a quick bow to Yomi and me.

"We'll dine together," the blind king says as he and I head in the direction I had previously been leaving behind. I grunt in response, nothing more than simple acknowledgement that I am listening. "I am interested to know more about this girl you previously used as a host—she managed to capture Kurama's interest, did she?"

Ah, yes. I was wondering when this subject would arise. It only makes sense that Yomi would want to know about Sunako, what with her ability to capture the fox's eye. Not to mention her power to create barriers. On her own she may not be able to do much in battle—for now; if Genkai keeps Sunako on the track she's on, she may become a more adequate warrior—yet as a support, she would be quite useful. Granted, I do plan on absorbing her abilities by eating her. Previously I was going to allow the girl to leave, and yet she had to steal my ability to transform…spirit world truly fucked me over there.

I run a lone finger along the length of my bottom lip. "It is often hard to believe, however she is quite intelligent when she actually thinks things through." His mouth quirks once more; he is amused by this explanation. "I believe Kurama is drawn to her due to her level of intellect and her dedication to her studies… Originally Sunako viewed him as a rival at school."

"School?" Yomi repeats this word in a bemused tone. No doubt he is imaging Yoko Kurama in a human school setting. I allow him to play out his train of thought before continuing on.

"Are you worried that he will hold it against you to allow me free reign when it comes to Sunako?"

The blind king cocks his head to the side and says nothing for a time. He and I seat ourselves at a small table in a private room. Undoubtedly a servant will soon arrive with our meal. "The possible reprecussions of allowing you this liberty do not effect whether or not Kurama will decide to lend his services." Such a confident individual, this blind king is.

"I'm sure it possesses greater bearing than you currently believe, Yomi-sama," I say, sliding my gaze towards the door and the servant who enters. The trays are quickly placed before us then the demon takes its leave.

Yomi chuckles. "I doubt you are trying to dissuade me from allowing you that liberty," he says whilst reaching for his plate. "Rugia, are you suggesting I give him fair warning now?"

"I am quite certain that you are withholding other important information that you may use as leverage against Kurama," I comment. I trace the rim of my plate prior to popping a morsel of food into my mouth. "You're being generous enough with me, and I hope to return the favor. Yes, Yomi-sama, I do recommend that you—or even I could do so—tell Kurama that my intentions for Sunako have nothing to do with you. You've wiped your hands clean of that already. To be forthcoming with the fox will prove to be advantageous."

"Duly noted."

-Human World; Sunako's POV-

Mom and I are currently the only two of our small group that are shooting. Both dad and Kurama are off to the side, talking away. I'm not exactly sure what it is that they're talking about though. Maybe manly stuff? Although, I can't say I know for sure whether or not Kurama does follow anything like football or baseball or…well, any sport for that matter. Between firing arrows, I keep trying to read their lips. Even if I am getting the correct words, out of context nothing makes much sense at all.

I shake my head, ready the next arrow, look ahead at the target and imagine that it's Rugia's head, and fire—and it lands a couple inches further from where I was hoping. My accuracy isn't too bad, if you get down to it. But, given the fact that my future enemy is a demon, that means death or at least several injuries if this were put in combat.

"While I'm certain you're taking into account the wind," Kurama says as I'm reaching for yet another arrow, "also consider the fluctuations in its speed." Huh. That's a good point.

I nod without turning to face him. Instead my eyes wander over to my mother and then her target. She told me this was her first time firing an arrow, but she's doing wonderfully. I've done archery a few times here and there, and I was nowhere near as good as she is on my first time. Maybe if I watch her, I'll pick up a few tricks too. At this point, nothing hurts so long as I can improve.

Watching my mother fire off a few arrows, I realize that she is holding her bow slightly different than I have been. Blinking a couple of times, I adjust my grip to mirror hers. She catches my eye and smiles. I return the smile then, checking the pattern of the wind, fire at the target. This time, my arrow embeds itself much closer to the intended goal. Yes! I toss down my bow, jump towards my mother, and wrap my arms around her. She and I laugh together.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love you so much!"

My mom, still laughing, shakes her head. "I'm not sure why you're thanking me, Suna-chan, but I love you too."

-One Hour Later; Hayakawa Residence-

Kurama is sitting next to me while I get the game set up. It's been quite some time since I've had a Yu-Gi-Oh card duel with anyone. I hope he isn't secretly smart about fusions and how to get superior monsters. Otherwise I'll probably lose to him. And that would be terrible, since I am hell-bent on stomping him during this match!

While we duel, Kurama is going to quiz me on various battle scenarios and reiki and yoki trivia. Basically things that will help me to strategize and think clearly when I am faced with a real battle. He says that since my technique is improving, I also need to work on learning more when it comes to combat. I can't exactly disagree seeing as how my responses to most of his questions have been based off of Yu-Gi-Oh duels, Pokemon battles, and Final Fantasy elements. While that knowledge has proven to help me somewhat, there are some misconceptions that need to be cleared up. Since, apparently, yes Kurama can still get hurt by lightning based attacks even though I consider him to be a plant-element poke—I mean, demon.

"I still don't get why lightning can beat plants since whenever I try to use thundershock on Belsprout, it doesn't have any effect," I say, my eyes narrowed, as I look away from the screen so that Kurama can take his turn. One downside to playing this game on multiplayer; unless the other person turns away, you both know one another's cards. "I mean, I guess a tree can catch on fire in the real world when it's struck by lightning, but—"

"There's no 'but'," he tells me in a tsk-ing voice. "You just solved your own problem right there."

"Yeah, but—"

"Sunako, Pokemon is fictional." Grr. Darn his logic.

I huff but don't comment further on the matter. I guess there isn't much of a point considering the explanation does ring true. Instead, I wait until Kurama tells me he's finishing up then take my turn. I look at the board. Hmm. I'm not sure if he put down a trap or just has a magic card there for later. I shrug then place my Millennium Shield in the face-down defense position. I really don't have any magic or trap cards in my hand right now so instead I finish up my turn then face away once more so that Kurama can take his.

"Okay, so what's the next question?"

Kurama hums in response mere milliseconds before responding. "This time, I'm going to offer you with a scenario. There is a rock demon that has the ability to sink into his rock surroundings. You are primarily on the defensive during those times. Let us say that you manage to successfully hit him with an arrow and he is lured out. He then proceeds to attack you by breaking into a number of pieces, which all launch at you similarly to bullets. What is your strategy?"

Holy crap. Where the fuck does he come up with these things. I eye him suspiciously. "Did you read too many fantasy books, or is this something that really happened?"

Kurama grins widely and, not taking his eyes off the television which I am blocking from my peripheral vision with my hand, says, "It's _based_ on something that truly happened." In that case, I'm very much happy with the fact that I'm not having to truly face this. Because…well, I don't think I'd win this battle. Rock beats Sunako. Possibly because Scissors and Sunako start with the same letter, but I'm not sure.

"Well…uh…" Man, this one isn't easy. "I guess I'd slowly collect the pieces or something." He blinks then looks at me like I've grown two heads. I shift a few times, suddenly uncomfortable. "Well, that way there're less pieces shooting at me!"

"And what about when he forms back together?" Kurama has quirked a single eyebrow. My eyes widen and my mouth opens. I'm about to protest the fact that he didn't divulge this information before when he cuts me off. "In battle, you must expect the unexpected. You're not given all the details ahead of time, Sunako. Also, surely you considered the possibility that he could rearrange himself, otherwise why would he break apart to attack you?"

"Well…well…I wasn't thinking like that!" At this rate, Kurama's questions are going to mess with my brain and prevent me from beating him in the duel. I cannot allow that to happen! "Very well. Uhm. If I take random pieces though, won't that make it to where he doesn't form back together correctly?"

Kurama blinks. "There may be a few holes, sure, however why wouldn't he form back together other than that? It's your turn."

I frown and turn back to the television screen. He still hasn't attacked my side, although he does have a monster face-down in the attack position. I'll probably leave that alone for now. I put out the trap card I managed to draw. Okay, let's think…breaks apart and forms back together…how does someone do that? Is this really based on a real situation?

"Yeah, _how_ does he form back together, huh?" I tilt my head to the side and stare at Kurama as I ask this question. He nods. I think I did something right. "That's an important question, isn't it?"

"Yes. It is _very_ important. Understanding how something works or moves a certain way in battle is essential for finding a means to prevent it or, at the very least, avoid it."

"Okay, so yeah. I'd find out how he forms back together. And then…and then…and then…"

Kurama clears his throat. I think he wants me to think more quietly. Or at least not repeat myself so many times.

"After I figure that out, I'd find a way to prevent him from forming back together. Like, take whatever it is, interfere with it, or destroy it. Your turn."

"Very good."

"So what was it?" I ask, turning away from the screen so that I don't see his hand. He furrows his brow, not quite sure what I'm talking about. "You said this was based on a real situation. What was it that allowed this rock guy to do this?"

"His core." I furrow my brow for a moment. "In human terms, his heart."

"That….is creepy."

Kurama laughs and says, "I can assure you, it looked quite different from what you're no doubt imagining."

I wrinkle my nose all the same. When it comes down to it, I still find it creepy that my boyfriend had a demon's heart that he messed around with and destroyed. Once more am I glad that he's not my enemy…at least not in real life. In this duel, however, I will show him no mercy! It's my turn again and I have all the cards I need to make a Twin-headed Thunder Dragon. I'll forgo making the twin-headed Cerberus to beat him this time…I think he's expecting it since I told him that's how I would beat him. Then again, he did tell me to expect the unexpected in battle. So should I use what I said I would since he would be expecting the unexpected? Or does he expect that of me? …fuck it! I'm making the dragon.

Grinning, I move to attack his face-down monster. I drop the controller a moment later. Fucking shit! I suddenly feel like Junouchi and Kurama is Kaiba.

"You bastard." He's smirking at me and refraining from commenting. "I can't believe you seriously used a Blue-eyes White Dragon on me like that."

"Nonsense, Sunako," he says in that fake, innocent voice of his. "_You_ attacked _me_." If I wasn't so sure he'd catch my wrist, I'd totally whack up in the head with my controller. Instead, I cross my arms over my chest as I watch my dragon get destroyed by his. How the hell did he even wind up with a Blue-Eyes in his deck? And, furthermore, why does this game—life in general—hate me when it comes to beating Kurama?

"That's it. We're going to go out tomorrow, buy several packs of Yu-Gi-Oh cards…and duel with real cards. Because then you don't get to have the advantage of the computer cheating for you."

He taps a lone finger against his chin. "I'd rather not have to listen to you complain when the packs I purchase hold superior cards."

Must…resist the urge…to strangle him…

"I will avenge you, my dragon. I will avenge you!" I jump up, point at Kurama, whose eyes are wide and mouth is struggling to maintain its neutral expression, and announce, "This is just getting started! I will beat you…and your little Blue-eyes too!"

Let's _not_ mention the fact that I just reminded myself of the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz.

-1-1-1-1-1-

Next chapter will be even more training—both mentally and with reiki. Also, will Yomi heed Rugia's advice and give Kurama fair warning of his stance on the Rugia/Sunako spiel? If so, what will Kurama's reaction be? That will happen next time….on Rumaroo.

If you feel so inclined, I'd love it if you'd drop a line. Thanks in advance! Hope everyone is still enjoying.


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry for the delay in updating. This one is about a week late from when I had hoped to have it posted. However, my grandma wound up in the emergency room another time, and I wound up with a cold that made me "meh" about writing. I'm feeling better now though! Thank you everyone for your patience. As for the other family emergencies that have been occurring…well, let's say that cancer is a culprit in one of those cases and times are pretty hard right now on everyone. Everyone's support has been much appreciated and very helpful.

-1-1-1-1-1-

Chapter 6: Oh, The Games We Play

I sit with my arms crossed over my chest, facing away from the television as Kurama takes his turn. From the corner of my eye, I can still see the amused smile on his face. He is enjoying the fact that he is beating me right now. Me? I'm _still_ trying to figure out why the world graced him with a BEWD. I better have an awesome card hidden somewhere in my deck. Neither of us reviewed our decks before. We had each just started new games and saved files so that we could duel. I better cross my fingers that I can salvage a win still. That Blue-Eyes of his is too huge of an advantage over me.

I bite down on my bottom lip and narrow my eyes for a moment. Kurama has just said that it's my turn, and so I turn around to look at the card I just drew from the deck. It's still nothing in comparison to his BEWD, however the Labyrinth wall does have a pretty good defense that will help me to keep going until I can get something better. I place it in the face down, defensive position. I then signal to Kurama that it's his turn once again. Right now, I'm starting to miss my dragon. It was so awesome…and…and, well, I like the Twin-headed Thunder dragon. It's one of my favorite cards or all time.

Kurama makes a quiet humming noise when he faces the screen. My stomach knots for a moment. What if he got an equipment card that will boost his dragon's attack? I'll pretty much be screwed if that's the case. Even my Labyrinth wall won't have enough defense to last. Which would put me in one of the poorest positions. It can't be this way; I _have_ to beat Kurama in this duel. Life can't be so unfair as to force me to lose to him once again.

Okay, let's think of this strategically. If I can get a card…like a trap or magic card…that would eliminate his BEWD, I might be able to turn the tables.

I turn around when Kurama says it is my turn. Huh…Harpie's Pet Dragon. That's not too bad if I have a "Harpie Lady" or something else that can boost its attack. For now, I'll set down my Darkfire Dragon to attack his face-down card. Heck, if I don't take a chance here, I may as well just give up. I chew on my bottom lip as I tell Kurama that he can turn around. He blinks once when he sees the screen, and says nothing when I have my Darkfire Dragon attack his face-down card. Yay! I bounce a bit when it's revealed to be a Giga-tech Wolf. My monster has that one beaten by 300 attack points.

"Already on your path for revenge, I see," Kurama says, his lips quirking upwards into a smirk. I don't like how cocky he is. The only good thing is that he didn't have a trap card played to negate my attack.

I snort. "You had to know it was coming soon."

"Perhaps." He's looking straight at me now, and I turn a bit to meet his gaze. "I'm simply surprised you left yet another dragon open to attack." My heart lurches for a moment. I knew exactly that the counter attack would happen for sure, however for him to say it like that… I glare at him. He only flashes me a grin in response then disposes of my dragon in his next turn.

I know he's judging my moves in this game right now. He's comparing them to how I would do battle in real life. Although, I'm pretty sure he's aware that I wouldn't sacrifice people in real life. In fact, I'm missing my Darkfire Dragon right now. The jerk.

Ten minutes later and Kurama is no longer speaking to me. Maybe it's because I got the card: Lightning Vortex that so happened to destroy his BEWD. Or maybe it's because I laughed maniacally for about a full minute. Either way, right now Kurama and I have a pretty even playing field. He has a Labyrinth wall as well, which is great for him I guess. Our monsters are pretty evenly matched right now. For the last few turns, he and I have randomly destroyed one another's monsters. We each have one monster that is pumped up due to a spell card. Aaaand…he just changed the field element, which boosts some of his weaker monsters' attacks and defenses. We're still relatively even, however that boost allowed him to destroy another one of my monsters.

"You're a sore loser," I say when he still says nothing to me, not even to tell me that it's my turn. Nope, instead he just nudged me.

He scoffs and says, "You haven't won."

"Not _yet_," I chirp, eyeing him, "but I will." He glares at the television screen. Heh. Maybe it's the fact that he's a guy, and guys typically don't like being beaten by girls. Or perhaps this is due to the fact that I've been a pretty good strategist in the long run, and he had been taking for granted that I'm pretty smart. "But…you know…" He slowly slides his gaze to me, still looking ready to punch me in the face. "You're pretty cute when you're pouting."

He tries not to react to this at all, yet he fails. His eyes widen, although only for a moment—he seems to catch himself right away. And his nose twitches some. It's pretty adorable. I don't think I catch him _that_ off guard very often. In fact, I can't recall the last time I did. That makes me even happier. Thus, grinning to myself, I take my turn.

It's not even three minutes later when my eyes about bulge out of my head. Kurama just used a black hole and sucked all the cards away.

"But…but…my monsters."

"Yes…they're gone," he says, matter-of-factly. I square my jaw and exhale loudly through my nose. I'd try to hit him if I wasn't so sure he'd catch my wrist. "Just be glad I'm not laughing."

I cross my arms over my chest and blink at him. "Of course not. You destroyed your monsters too. At least when I got rid of your Blue-eyes, I didn't have to sacrifice mine in return."

"I suppose," he says. Yet somehow he's still too relaxed for my taste. I eye him suspiciously, and in no time flat he confirms that my fears are not misplaced when he says, "However, you haven't seen the cards in my hand."

World, if you let him beat me now…I'll—well, I won't let you be destroyed since the people I love live on you, but I'll do something! Like…maybe I'll…yeah, I'll litter! Ha! Take that world!

"By the way, Sunako, when did you get so interested in Yugioh?" he asks me. Yeah, sure, of course suddenly he's in a talkative mood. Now that he has a good chance of having the upper hand.

I click my tongue against the roof of my mouth, deciding to _not_ ignore him—that's right, I'm going to show him how to be a good…well, I'm not going to lose, but still. I'll be a good sport in general I guess. Not a good loser; I refuse to lose this duel!

"I used to watch it quite a bit…sort of for background noise while I read or did some homework. Then I recently got back into it because Tomo and Mura watch it sometimes. It's one of the few non-educational shows that their mom lets them watch…which kind of surprises me considering how often some of the characters swear." I shrug at this thought. I don't think I can ever recall a time when I heard either of those kids swear. I guess they're not picking up bad habits or anything from it, so I guess it makes sense that their mom doesn't mind. "Did you ever watch it?"

"No, not that I recall." I eye him a bit. He knows a little too much about how these card duels work to have not— "Kuwabara has the manga." I think he noticed my look. "I think I know a new way to train you though." I'm not sure how I feel about the way he said that.

Kurama and I wrap up the duel in another half hour. Of course, nature worked its course as it should have, and I was rightly crowned winner. He isn't exactly pleased with the turn out, however he's less pouty than when I had destroyed his Blue-eyes. Maybe I should start calling him Kaiba from now on. Heck, I always had a thing for the character. I wonder if I could ever convince Kurama to dress up as Seto? That would be…yup, I would totally make out with him until my lips cracked and bled. Alas, I'll have to save that request for another time; my mom just walked into the room.

-Early Next Morning; Kurama's POV-

I am roused from my sleep when I sense a presence near my bedroom window. I am immediately alert, sitting up and rubbing my eyes before I realize what had awoken me. I slip my feet out from underneath the warmth of my blanket and move over to the window. Sure enough, there is a demon crow, much like the one that had delivered the message to Suanko from Rugia. Perhaps it is even the same crow. My gaze slips to its leg, upon which a message is tied. With a frown, I raise my window and allow the creature to enter.

It hops into my bedroom, noisily scuffles to the floor and then flaps its wings several times until it manages to raise itself onto my bed. There it ruffles its feathers and cocks its head to the side, eyeing me. I remove the paper from around its ankle then pause, watching as it continues to stand there. I decide not to worry for the time being; I could easily kill the crow should it begin to pose any sort of threat to my mother. I unroll the letter then begin reading the message. I can instantly tell it is from Yomi by the terminology used.

My grip on the paper tightens, and the page crinkles underneath the pressure. I hear a slight ripping noise and force myself to loosen my grip—all the same, I have already managed to make a small tear in the page. Yomi has sided with Rugia it seems. Now the question, how to reveal this information to Sunako? And more: shall I even tell her? I hope to keep her away from the Makai, and yet… Using an opportunity that could be granted to him by Yomi, Rugia would have plenty of chances to strike Sunako when I go to the Makai.

I cannot say that I am entirely surprised at Yomi's decision. A leech could be quite useful in the coming war he plans to take part in. And to him Sunako is nothing more than a mere human—nothing more than food.

What this equates to is an increase in Sunako's training. I will have to reveal this information to her parents—to her as well then—so that they will agree to allow me to have more time with her. I am certain that she will be babysitting after school today, which will offer me time to make the proper preparations. First, I will need to speak with Genkai. I hope that she will agree to aid me in training Sunako, as well as offer some advice as to which areas I should focus. I have not worked with Sunako as Genkai has, nor for the same length of time.

-The following day; Sunako's POV-

Yesterday Kurama was acting pretty funny. Not just in school either. He barely spoke a word to me when we were at my locker to pack things up. You'd think he would have wanted to make the most of the time we had together at that point considering I had to babysit yesterday and so we wouldn't be hanging out. Then this morning it was even weirder! He showed up at my doorstep before school…but not to see me. Nope. Right away he took my parents aside, made sure I couldn't hear anything that was being said, and talked with them. It had me worried too. My parents both looked pretty damn spooked. He better have a damn good reason for keeping me in the dark like this. Moreover, he better tell me what the hell is going on soon!

Right now, we're in the final hour of school. My mind is racing. He has barely spoken to me at all in any of our classes and in the hall has only provided responses consisting of hums and grunts. There is obviously something bugging him. Since he told me parents, I know it has to do with me. Now, what would freak them out? Hmm. Give me a second…yes…

"Miss Hayakawa!" the teacher says sharply, causing me to jump up into a shouting position and shout out the first thing that was on my mind:

"Rugia!"

Everyone looks at me oddly. I bow and apologize. At the same time, I did not miss the fact that Kurama stiffened at that exclamation. Great. That doesn't alleviate anything right now. If anything, it has me all the more nervous.

I sit back down in my seat as my teacher gives me that look that lets me know the reason my name was called is the fact that it was obvious my mind was elsewhere. I need to practice the whole 'look like you're paying attention when you're really not' face. I used to be pretty good at that. I steal a few glances over at Kurama. A couple times I manage to catch his eye. The second time this happens, he offers me a single, quick nod that I almost miss seeing. This better mean that he plans on telling me more about this when school is over.

The final bell seems to take forever to ring, however ring it does. I'm immediately out of my seat and heading towards him. Kurama is just starting to get up when I get to his side. He tucks his books into his bag and says nothing while doing so. Now, is he seriously going to make _me_ talk first, or is he just waiting until we aren't where a ton of people could overhear our conversation? Either one of those seems likely at this point.

Sure enough, when there are only a few other people in the room besides us, he starts talking. "I received this letter yesterday morning." He places a sheet of paper on top of the books that are in my arms. I look down at it, glance over it, then start over from the beginning, this time more slowly. Great. So this ass king who's forcing Kurama back to the Makai is basically saying that Rugia can have me for supper. He may as well serve me on a plate right now if the tone of the letter is any indication on Yomi's feelings towards humans.

"You're really going to go to the Makai for a guy like this?" I ask Kurama, nodding towards the letter as he takes back the paper. I squint my eyes. "He's basically saying I'm fodder. Like, nothing more than a cattle raised to be turned into a hamburger. Is that really how demons thin—is that how you used to think? That we were just tasty treats."

He's frowning, and I know why. He hates it when I bring up the past like this, with an accusing tone. Sometimes I can't help but wonder if he despises it only because some of my questions actually ring true. Then I wonder if he hates the fact that they're true because he no longer has that opinion and is ashamed that he used to feel that way, or if it's only because he hates the fact that I'm so perceptive.

"I ate an assortment of things." I almost snap back with an 'oh, so humans are just _things, _huh?' but catch myself. Unfortunately, I don't catch myself in time to have not opened my mouth. I close it right away, however he noticed it. He's frowning. No doubt he knows _exactly_ what I was going to say. I feel somewhat guilty. "Sunako, I'll be both honest and frank with you. I don't believe I ever bothered to think _anything_ of humans. They were simply there, whether as food or as a target to steal from…all in all, my opinion of them…"

"They were just objects or conveniences?" I ask, a mixture of disgust and understanding in my voice. He nods without hesitating. My stomach flips a bit. I know he doesn't feel that way anymore, but still. To think that he did at any point in time feel that way, believe that way… I shudder a bit. The more I hear about the way Yoko Kurama was, the more I want to keep Kurama from going back to the Makai. Now, with Rugia joined up with Yomi…I definitely need to figure a way to get stronger so that I can go with Kurama there. I _won't_ let them corrupt him and turn him back into that monster.

We hardly say anything else during the time it takes us both to sort through our school books at our lockers. When we exit the school, however, Kurama tells me that my parents have given him permission to steal me for a few hours today. I chew on my bottom lip while I follow him, trying to figure out where exactly he plans on taking me. No doubt it has to do with training, or something similar. Why else would my parents agree to this? Especially after hearing about Rugia; Kurama told me that that's what he had been talking about with them this morning. He hasn't revealed quite everything to them, but most things they're now in the know with.

"Where are we going?" I ask at long last after we have been walking for roughly six minutes.

"There's a discount shop a few more blocks from here." Ooookay. He probably noticed the confused expression on my face. "I have an activity to help increase your spiritual awareness. I think you'll find yourself enjoying it."

A thousand and one things run through my mind. None of them seem likely to be the activity Kurama has in mind for me. Something to increase my spiritual awareness, huh? So it has to do with sensing things…and it has to do with a discount store. Is he going to make me try to steal things? And like…I have to use my spiritual awareness to know when someone's looking in my direction? What the hell happens if I get caught? Won't I get arrested? Besides, it's wrong to steal! That better not be what he has planned.

"You're not having me steal anything, are you? Or try to steal something?" He shoots me an incredulous look. "Sorry. I had to ask. My mind was thinking strange things. I can't stand suspense! You should know that by now."

He chuckles. "I had expected you to have some weird thoughts regarding what we are going to do, however I thought you would have more faith in my character than _that_."

"Uh-huh…Mister Steals-A-Mirror-From-A-Spirit-World-Vault," I say. He does a double-take. "Remember, I hang out with Yusuke too. We talk. A lot." He sighs and shakes his head. "I can't believe you almost gave up your life though! Do you know how touched I was when I heard that story? I still hated you, but I almost cried!"

Kurama smiles at my words. He doesn't say anything about them, however I know he likes the fact that his actions touched me like that. Seriously though, to think he was willing and ready to give up his life for his mother!

"It's definitely a good thing Yusuke is reckless and tried to give up his life instead. Aaaand…it's a good thing the mirror decided to not kill either or both of you but instead let you guys live." I'm pretty sure I just stated the obvious that it's a good thing, but oh well.

Kurama grabs my upper arm gently and steers me into a shop that I almost passed up while talking. He nods in greeting at the clerk then leads me over to a specific shelf…on which there are various card games. Like, collectible ones such as Pokemon, Digimon, and Yugioh. What the hell is going on here? He really is going to have me try to steal one of these things, isn't he? Oh crap…what if he hid an engagement ring here? Wait…why would he have an engagement ring? Is he proposing? Why would he propose?

I smack myself in the forehead to help clear my thoughts. Kurama sighs next to me.

"Sorry. Mind was racing again. It was being even more irrational than ever. For a moment I thought you were going to p—p—" I can't just out and out stop now since he's staring at me and waiting. Damn it. "Pinch me."

"Why would I pinch you, Sunako?" he asks, sounding pretty freaking amused. I wonder if he knows I just made that up.

"Why do cows moo," I counter. "Why do cats meow? Why do horses baa?" Wait…

"Horses don't baa," he says, grinning widely. He hides his mouth behind his hand as I glare at him. I know he's laughing. He can try to hide it all he wants, but it doesn't change a thing!

I turn away from him and glare at the packs of cards. "I made a mistake…obviously!" I huff then quickly try to change the subject. "What's the game plan anyhow then?"

"I am going to purchase several packs of Yugioh cards…enough for the both of us to have a deck to duel with," he begins and my eyes are already wide. I think somewhere along the line my eyebrows met my hair. "However, before any of the packs get opened, you are going to use your spiritual awareness to figure out which packs have rare cards."

"But…I mean…how the heck…what?" I don't get how this is going to work, and my mouth isn't even working correctly.

Kurama picks up a number of packs then heads to the register. On the way he explains how this will work. The first few I'll try to sense and then guess whether or not they have a rare card. Obviously once I get a rare card, or a few, I'll be able to see how the feeling I got from the pack(s) was different. Over time I'll get better and better. Although, you have to wonder…isn't that sort of cheating? I mean, in a sense, later on I could go into stores and buy only packs that have rare cards since I could sense it.

After we leave the shop, I explain this to Kurama. He shakes his head. "That's only if you make a point to sense it. If you just grab random packs and buy them without trying to figure out which packs hold rare cards—"

"That's true, that's true." Leave it to me to totally fail to think that logically.

Kurama and I walk over to a nearby bench and sit down next to one another. He hands me the first card pack. "After you get better at this, you and I will work on control over changing shapes. That way you won't have to worry that doing anything similar to a cat—such as crawling even for a moment—will automatically make it so that you change form."

Schweet! It'll definitely be nice once I don't have to worry about that anymore. In the meantime, Kurama tells me to close my eyes and concentrate. Focus all my attention on the pack of cards in my hand. Remember what first comes to my mind when I focus that energy and attention there…and the first thing that comes to my mind is aqua. Or maybe turquoise. Yeah, it was definitely more a turquoise color. I tell this to Kurama, who tells me to then open the card pack. He and I shift through the cards to see if there is any rare card. Nope. Nothing that stands out to me.

We place the cards back into the wrapper. Next, Kurama pulls out the next pack. He tells me to do the same thing, and so I do. First thought that comes to my mind? Lavender rabbits. Yeah, I'm not sure if this is really working. When I tell Kurama, I leave out the rabbits part. Maybe if he thinks I'm just sensing colors or whatever without other randomness he won't think I'm completely crazy. I open the pack, yet once again there is no rare card. There are a few holos though. Huh. Maybe turquoise means regular and lavender rabbits means holo? I'm not entirely sure. I suppose I'll just have to open up more packs!

On the next pack I 'see' turquoise again. Sure enough, there are no rares or holos in this pack. I report my findings to Kurama, who smiles. "Perhaps your spiritual awareness is slightly better than I previously believed." I don't know whether to insulted by that or thankful for the fact that he doesn't have unrealistic expectations of me.

I go to reach for another pack, but he bats my hand away. I furrow my brow. "I thought—"

"You and I are going to move to a more active area. A place that offers more distractions and spiritual fluctuations." I frown. Of _course_ he's not going to let me stay on the easy level. He stands up and starts walking away, however I stay seated. "Hurry, if you want to have time to have a card duel after this." I huff, grumble, and drag my feet as I move to catch up with him. Fine, fine. But only because I want to beat him again.

-1-1-1-1-1-

Sunako and Kurama are having fun in the craziness. Let me tell you, these unconventional training methods are definitely fun to write right now. On the 13th of September, I'll be having a laparoscopic procedure done. I'll possibly be somewhat out of commission for a few days, but that means (hopefully) some writing time here and there when I'm not passed out, trying to sleep away the bit of pain from the aftermath. Hope to have at least one chapter out before then though! Thanks for reading this chapter, I hope you enjoyed!

Also, if any of you have any unconventional training ideas you want to shout out, I'm all ears. There are so many areas that Sunako needs to improve in. Next chapter, she begins facing one of her worst enemies: distractions. See how badly it affects her process of opening up yugioh card packs!


	7. Chapter 7

So I do have severe endometriosis, almost lost my right ovary, and got an injection to make me have a false menopause. Was healing from that, got a slight cold, started my period anyway, and have been feeling blah. Also had finals during that time, but right now I'm on break. I think those are pretty valid reasons for the delay in update. Either way, hope you enjoy this now!

-1-1-1-1-

Chapter 7: Finishing the Games

Kurama and I walk have been walking for roughly fifteen minutes and thus far there are no signs that we will be stopping any time soon. I'm staring suspiciously at the back of his head, wondering where exactly he's leading me. I'm not sure where a place with lots of spiritual fluctuations is. The cave where Sensui was, maybe. Although, that's quite a bit way's off, and I really don't think that he's going to take me there. I briefly look around my surroundings, attempting to take note of any strange reiki or yoki presences. I can sense nothing of the sort, or at least not anything noteworthy. Obviously wherever we're going isn't within a block of here.

"Just how long do you plan on making me walk?" I ask, narrowing my eyes a bit. "I'm too lazy for this."

"All the more reason why I _should_ have you walk."

My eyes dart down to my stomach. "Are you saying I'm getting fat?"

"Hm?" He looks over his shoulder. A single brow is quirked, and he has that expression that screams: 'Sunako, you're a paranoid freak.' I shift, slightly uncomfortable at the accusation, and turn my head away, muttering out a quick 'forget it'.

He and I continue on in silence. I poke at my stomach with a single finger then shrug. Maybe I have been somewhat lazy and should probably exercise more but… What if I did get fat? Would Kurama stop liking me? You never know with guys. Some are all up front and say 'Yes, I'd stop liking you'. Others say 'No' but are just lying. You pretty much can't trust what they say to you when it comes to that subject. I just hope he knows that if I did get fat and he left me for that reason alone…I would maim him and murder him and make him regret his entire life.

Kurama glances over his shoulder a few times at me while we head down this street. I'm unable to read his expression the entire time until at last the smallest smile settles on his features. He reaches back and takes my hand in his, albeit barely. Our fingers are entwined. I tug on his fingers harder, pull myself closer to him, and smile myself. I guess I won't worry about such things right now. I should focus more on getting stronger so that when I face Rugia, I won't die. After all, I need to get stronger while at the same time keeping Kurama in the dark as to my intentions of sneaking into the Makai with him.

It takes us roughly twenty minutes more before we arrive at the desired location. An elementary school playground. That's only…a lot creepy considering there are tons of spiritual fluctuations here. I wonder how many of them are from dead children…and I hope that pedophiles are not allowed here. I mean, ghosts of them. They go to hell right away, don't they? Part of me doesn't even want to ask Kurama for fear of getting a disagreeable answer.

A chill runs up my spine as yet another alteration in the wavelength of reiki around us occurs. I chew on my bottom lip for a moment, eyes darting around. There's nothing visible—at least, I can't see anything. I wonder if Kuwabara would be able to see ghosts here? Can Kurama? I look back in his direction, however his eyes are trained on me.

"Are you ready?" he asks, gesturing towards a bench that's roughly a yard from where we stand. I wince a bit, hating the fact that he's clearly gloating already over the fact that I'm obviously going to be easily distracted. All the same, I move over to the bench and take a seat. I lift up a single hand, palm up, awaiting the next pack of cards. One is slapped right onto my palm. "Good luck, Sunako."

"I really hate you right now," I say, my gaze glued to the pack in my hands, which I am already attempting to try to 'read'. I'm not seeing turquoise or lavender rabbits with this one. In fact, I can barely focus on it. In my peripheral vision I keep seeing sparks of yellow and green. My eyes dart around in that area, but there is absolutely nothing to see.

With a sigh, I turn my attention back onto the card pack. I can feel Kurama's eyes boring into me. No doubt he's amused that his plan of distractions is already working. He's probably pleased with himself. But I shall not be defeated this easily! Thus right now I am literally glaring at the pack, mentally begging it to show me colors or animals a nice mixture of the two. Frankly, I feel like a crazy person who should be locked up in the asylum. Whatever. As long as this works, I'll be happy.

I take a deep breath, making sure it's quiet as can be, and relax my features. Neither turquoise nor lavender rabbits filter into my head still. Instead, there's this strange face…like that of a creepy little girl murdering people with lollipop sticks. Hoo boy. I'm definitely getting ready to sign myself up for a psyche ward right now. Muttering out my 'vision' to Kurama—who, everyone should note, eyes me warily—I open the pack of Yugioh cards.

I flip through the cards, blinking every few seconds. "How the hell does turquoise become murderous little girls just because there are spiritual fluctuations? This isn't reflective of my personality or any of my person characteristics, is it?"

"N….no," he says. He furrows his brow but smiles, amused, all the same. I'm not surprised he's still mostly cheery considering _he's_ not the one getting morbid visions. Still, though…some sort of moral or mental support would be helpful.

I shove the cards back into the wrapper then hand that pack back to Kurama. He accepts it before handing me the next one. I once again attempt to 'read' the pack to see what sort of strange vision I get next. However, a loud thud has me jumping from my seat—literally. I'm on my feet, head whipping around in all directions. The man who dropped his book on the sidewalk gives me a strange look then continues on his way after picking it up.

When I turn to see what Kurama's reaction to all this is, I find him staring at his lap. He's trying not to let me in on his thoughts. Maybe it's for the best.

I return to my seat and resume my training. All the while, I'm secretly praying there are no more little girls with lollipops—in fact, I don't think I'll be able to eat lollipops for a good chunk of time after this. Luckily, this time there are no little girls whatsoever. Instead, there is a scene from one of my old dreams…Lord Botany. Yup. Kurama in a Poison-Ivy like costume…wearing high heels…wow. Let's pretend I _don't_ see that when trying to sense what's in these card packs.

"I saw…uh…purple oompa loompas," I say, my voice shaking. Now Kurama eyes me suspiciously and I start opening up the card pack. I sift through the cards….and there's a rare card. "So Lord—purple oompa loompas means rare."

"Lord?" We stare at one another, both of our eyes narrowed. I will not blink. I refuse to lose to him! And that is why I cheat…by blowing into his face. He growls a bit, pulling the cards roughly out of my hand and then refuses to hand me another pack. "What are you hiding from me?"

"A lot," I say without missing a beat. His shoulders slump. A wide grin forms on my face. Wow, that was actually really good on my part. No hesitation, standing my ground. I'm getting pretty good at this. "Next, please!" He tosses it onto my lap.

-Makai; Rugia's POV-

Saito presses me tightly against the bed, causing the mattress to creak. I quirk a brow as I stare up at him, at the rows of teeth that are meshed together in a grin. Tapping a few fingers against the mattress, I release a sigh. I lean my head further into the pillow. His claws dig deeper into my flesh—no doubt I'll have a few welts. Our auras meet in the air, causing a hissing crackle. I narrow my eyes. Saito, uncharacteristically, refuses to remove his weight from my body. Rather, he nearly crushes me and lowers his mouth.

"Know that if you bite me, I'll twist off your jaw," I say, keeping my voice level. To make my point clear, I hook a lone nail into the contour of his face, the juncture where maxilla and mandible meet. Saito immediately tenses.

Ever so slowly he begins his retreat, lurching his body off of mine. I do not remove my finger from its position until Saito is a decent enough distance from me. I, too, rise from the bed. Saito crosses the room to the far side. All the while, his eyes are glued on me and narrowed in his anger. To think this began over a mere insulting quip on Horus' part. I am quite surprised, however, that Saito has lowered himself to react simply on rumors. Has being in Gandara caused such paranoia?

I smooth the front of my shirt, biding some time while I see if Saito will speak first. He cocks his head to the side and does so. "Then Yomi has _not_ suggested you replace me?"

"He has." I keep my tone dismissive, my attention on him. Immediately his entire body tenses, as though he will lunge for me. "I declined, although…" I purposely trail off. Noticeably, Saito fidgets and attempts to level his breathing. "Did Horus tell you elsewise?"

"…Indeed," he grumbles. No doubt he's ashamed of his brash actions.

I at last allow my lips to quirk upwards into a shadow of a grin. "But to attack me during a nap? That's so…below you, Saito." I can hear his teeth noisily slide against one another. "Perhaps you should let off steam—just don't _kill_ Horus, yes?"

"Yes," he says with a feral grin as he lurches towards the door.

When he is no longer within the room, I allow my body to collapse onto the mattress once more. Massaging my brow, I release a groan. Perhaps I _should_ allow Saito to kill Horus, the little gnat. That thought flutters away as I feel a familiar presence enter the room.

"Do you intend to test _my_ men in this manner for much longer?" I question, setting a hand against my stomach. My eyes roam along Yomi's body, which doesn't reveal anything of his thoughts. Such a guarded man. "I'm beginning to believe you _want_ them to rip one another apart so that you can have _me_ to yourself—at your _mercy_."

He smirks. "If I wanted you at my mercy, Rugia, it would be but a simple task."

"I am aware—I am implying that you would prolong such a task for your amusement," I say, unaffected by his statement as it is nothing but the truth. A chuckle rips from my throat. "How fun. Leave Saito out of it, if anything. He is quite a useful warrior." Yomi stuffs his hands into his pockets. His stance is at last open; he wants to hear more. "He has plenty of connections that allow for tracking in both the Makai and the human world. You have a handful of such men in your arsenal as well—how many of those are no more than scared little twits?"

"Your point is made," Yomi says with a quick incline of his head. "I'll leave him be."

I tap my stomach several times with my finger, all the while waiting for the moment he will take his leave. That does not seem to be coming any time soon.

"The other reason you graced me with your presence?"

Yomi grins. "Delay your attack on the girl. I need you at full strength when Raizen dies—Kurama's reaction would—"

"Yes, yes," I say without a care for any possible reaction on his part for my rudeness. "I'll work to your schedule so long as you do not interfere when the time comes."

"Then we are at an understanding." He leaves on that note, not waiting for me to respond. When humans state that the devil is a horned man, perhaps they are not far from the truth.

-Human World; Sunako's POV-

I think that it might be pretty bad that I'm getting somewhat used to seeing Kurama in high heels. Unfortunately, however, this vision has not been consistent with the different results from the pack of cards I get. All of these spiritual fluctuations have boggled my ability to sense things. Kurama tells me to not let it get me down, but I can't help it. I'm naturally disappointed in myself whenever I don't excel at things.

"Did you picture me in heels again?" Kurama asks, and I glare at him. Yeah, I ended up letting it slip about 'Lord Botany'. He's not entirely thrilled about it, but I did manage to lighten it somewhat by joking that I would be Batman and he would be Poison Ivy for Halloween.

I sigh out loud and shake my head. "No. No, I didn't picture you in heels again. I saw that creepy little girl. We should do this later. I don't think I'll _ever_ be able to eat lollipops _ever_ again."

Kurama leans closer to me and presses his lips against my cheek. I smile a bit, somewhat comforted. He starts to pack away the cards and promises me that after I get better at this, we _will_ have a duel. He and I walk towards my house. We're holding hands, and he tries to give me tips on how to block out some of the minor fluctuations so that I can improve quicker.

"What's important is focusing on the task at hand. Just like with reading—minor distractions can easily be dismissed. That is what you need to work on. Larger fluctuations, naturally, will attract your attention immediately for now."

"Soo…think of it like reading, basically?"

"To a degree, yes," he says with a nod. "You have to create a sort of mental wall—perhaps I should have you talk with Kuwabara about this. He has had to deal with a high spiritual awareness for a while. Tuning out smaller interruptions would be more his forte."

It seems that I'm going to gain a multitude of teachers for my training. Honestly, though, so long as this works, I'm not going to complain. Besides, I like carrot-top. And it's been a bit since we've had a chunk of time to hang out.

-That Night-

I lay on my stomach on my bed. My head is ringing with the migraine that keeps trying to form. Kurama warned me that I might get a headache after the training we did, but seriously? This bad? I sometimes wonder if the world likes to ensure my punishments are exaggerated forms of what everyone else gets. I pull a pillow over my head, trying to keep out any sliver of light that could otherwise enter my field of vision. A groan leaves my mouth and my toes curl.

My mom and dad are out on a date, and I don't expect them to be back anytime soon. My only hope is that when they do come home they are quiet. My head hurts soooo bad. I'm never going to let Kurama talk me into anything ever again. The consequences are painful.

I literally wince, my face contorted in pain, when there is a dull, muffled thud where my window is. Then a cool breeze rushes over my body. I push the pillow off my head, ready to face my would-be killer and…holy crap! "You!" My eyes are wide as saucers for only a moment before I'm wincing and shutting them. I squint to see him.

He grins, his eyes sparkling a bit with amusement. "Sometimes I wonder why I pass up such chances to eat you."

"How are you even here?" I ask, the question burning in my mind and taking up all my attention.

Rugia, sitting in my window frame, cocks his head to the side. "Similar to the manner in which Raizen's followers did." This tells me nothing basically. Wait, wait. Now I remember; Yusuke mentioned something about how they had their powers suppressed and could be here for a short time. "You're training to fend me off?"

"No…I'm training to join the squirrels in a revolt against all man-kind."

He simply watches me, his face indifferent. I think he's a bit too used to my random quips even though we haven't been near one another for a chunk of time. That's not a good thing; it means that he would probably be able to read my movements and thoughts easily in battle. In that case, I'm nowhere near ready to fend him off. Although, that brings to mind the question…

"So wait… Is there a specific reason you're _not_ trying to eat me right now?" I ask in a whisper.

Surprisingly, he responds in a soft voice as well. "An agreement I have with someone." He taps a finger against his knee, waits a few seconds, and then continues on with a new thought. "You're planning to sneak into the Makai with Kurama, are you not?" My eyes narrow further; they're practically closed. "My question is this: is the fox aware of your plans?"

"What's it to you?" I ask after a moment's hesitation. I'm beginning to think he keeps tapping his leg to keep time. He's probably on some sort of time restriction for his visit right now.

Rugia uses his free hand to wave in response. "I was going to offer my assistance to help you sneak without him knowing if you needed."

"Why would you do that?" He's up to something, and I haven't quite caught onto what exactly that is.

Rugia at last enters my room fully. He stretches, arching his back a bit. "It gets you into the Makai, of course. You get what you want, and I don't have to worry about finding a chance to strike you down while you reside in the human world."

I hadn't quite thought of it that way. He wants to help me so that later he can try to kill me. I want to get into the Makai anyhow, and Rugia would only make this task easier. I feel like I'm Thor listening to Loki…except Loki's a very sexay beast. I bite my bottom lip, considering the words of this silver-tongued man.

Crossing my arms over my chest, I nod—regret the move a bit as my head throbs once more—and say, "Very well. I'll let you help me."

At least, unlike Loki, Rugia is making his intentions known ahead of time. This point is proven further when, as he's leaving through the window, he looks over his shoulder at me and says, "By the way, Sunako, you should eat more kiwi—I find that flavor delectable."

Great. Now he's trying to flavor me for the purpose of eating me. I really would rather be dealing with the real Loki right now instead of Rugia.

With those thoughts in mind, I close the window, grumble a bit and climb back under my pillow. Maybe tonight I can look forward to dreams of Super Cupid's adventures in Asgard. So long as I remember to bring a Taser, I should be fine.

-1-1-1-1-1-1-

By the way, I have not yet had the chance to watch the Avengers even though I _really_ want to. I've only seen Thor (and the two Iron Man movies). Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. And yes, Rugia has _plenty_ of ulterior motives that may or may not have been revealed just yet.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: More or Less

Kurama really wasn't kidding about having me talk to Kuwabara about spiritual awareness. When I walked out of school, Kuwabara was here to meet us. Which is weird, considering he either rushed over here after school right away…or he skipped. I really don't want to be the cause of him skipping school; Shizuru would _kill _me. Forget sneaking away to the Makai with Rugia's help, I'll be dead. I suppose I'll just have to talk to him about his academics later. Maybe I'll help him out as a thank you for helping me with my training. That way we're both benefiting from this.

Kurama gives me a quick kiss on the top of my head then sets off after saying something about needing to meet up with his mother. I'm guessing it has to do with wedding plans and all since the date is getting closer. I think it might only be a week or so away, but I can't quite remember still. Lately all the days have been blending together. So much to do and so little time before Kurama heads off to the Makai. I can't believe that when he told me there were another two months before he'd leave to the Makai…I can't believe that was already six days ago. That means out of eight weeks…almost a full week has already gone by. I don't feel any more ready than I was before Yusuke and Hiei left.

I suppose that _is_ the point of Kuwabara being here though. I do my best to grin given the circumstances and my nerves, and in no time flat I'm smiling for real. Carrot top's goofy laughter is just plain contagious. There's a reason I like him so much. He turns and says that we're heading for the arcade. I do a quick skip after him then walk normally when he and I are walking side by side. I take my phone out of my pocket and send my parents a quick text. I let them know that I'm going to train with Kuwabara for a bit today and that I'll do my homework when I'm babysitting tonight. A half block later I receive a message in return with my mom's approval, and she says dad doesn't have a problem with it either, but I do need to let them meet Kuwabara within the next few days.

I eye Kuwabara as he and I head closer and closer to the arcade. "How do you feel about meeting parents?"

His whole face falters and I bite back a laugh. "Seriously Sunako? I have to?" I lift my phone so that it's level with my head and then wave it back and forth. Kuwabara catches my hand, glances at the message I still have up, and sighs before grumbling. "Well, I guess Kurama said they're not that bad."

"They aren't!" I chirp, rocking a bit on my toes. "Besides, my mom will probably make us a snack when you're over. She's cool like that, and I know you like junk food."

As if on cue, his stomach growls lowly. He and I both break out laughing. We have to stop walking as our laughter grows a bit. I'm clutching my stomach and he's rubbing his. I suggest we get a snack when we reach the arcade. I offer to get us something to split. Kuwabara nods enthusiastically, stating that he's _starving_ after studying so hard in school today. Good, that makes me feel better. He _did_ go to school.

"How's that going anyway?" I ask him when we're only three blocks from the arcade. "Shizuru isn't getting on your case too badly, is she?"

"Nah, she's not _that_ bad." He's silent for a moment, probably drifting off into thought about the last few nights of studying or something. "Yeah, she's not bad. I mean, she could be worse." I snort a bit at that.

When we arrive at the arcade, we head immediately towards the small food counter they have towards the back. Kuwabara and I both look over the menu, each of us not quite sure what we're in the mood for. All I know is that I'm hungry. No specific food cravings or anything. I'll probably let Kuwabara decide on the food, and then I'll get us each a drink. I tell him this and he nods. We wind up with an icee for me, a soda for him, and some shrimp chips to split. Barbeque flavor—one of my favorites.

Kuwabara carries the chips and his drink as he and I head over to where the tables are located. I snag one of the last few booths left, set down my icee, and take off my backpack. I try to ignore some of the strange looks we keep getting but am not entirely successfully. I often forget that Kuwabara is still thought of as some yakuza thug even though he's helped save the world more than once. Not that these people are aware of his heroic deeds, but still. To my knowledge he hasn't caused much trouble in the last bit, but instead has been more devoted to his studies.

With a shrug at these thoughts, I cock my head to the side. "So, what's the game plan here anyhow?"

"I figured we could hang out in a noisy place then have you tell me when you sense me summoning spirit energy. I'll only do a small amount…don't want people to notice," he says. Huh. That's not a bad idea. "Since you're familiar with my reiki, it's something you'd 'latch' onto quicker. Or something like that. Shizuru helped me figure this out." As he says the last part, he rubs his chin with his hand. My lips split upwards into a smile.

"I guess I could treat us to a couple of games," I say, heading over to the change-making machine. I slip in a few bills then divide up the money between Kuwabara and me. I try my hardest to strike a smug-ass pose. "You know, to make this an actual challenge by adding more noise."

Kuwabara snorts, pokes fun at my pose, and then heads for a fighting game. He calls me over, telling me to quickly snag second player position before someone else comes over. I arrive seconds before another boy, who mumbles a bit, blushes, and heads off to find another game. I blink a few times. Huh. So even though people are scared of Kuwabara, they're still apt to try to beat him at videogames. That's actually pretty cool. No wonder he and Yusuke like the arcade so much.

"So hanging out here is like your way of taking a break from being a badass," I say as I slip some coins into the slot and grab the joystick and position my hands over the buttons.

Kuwabara scoffs. "I'm _always_ badass, Sunako!" he says incredulously.

"You say that now." I narrow my eyes, bounce a bit on my toes, and ready myself for the game to start. "But your tail will be between your legs in no time flat when I beat you!"

"The hell you will!" There is only a few seconds' pause before he comments, "Besides, you also have to focus on sensing when I summon my reiki."

If it wasn't for the fact that he did bring me here to train, I'd comment that that was cheating. As it is, I merely frown, suddenly more determined to both beat him at this game and do well with my training. The game begins and it almost sounds like Kuwabara and I are both button mashing even though we're doing specific moves. It seems we're just _that_ fast. This is one game that I never played until I met Kuwabara and the gang, and Kuwabara was quick to 'show me the ropes'. I make my avatar dodge one of his attacks then tense up when I sense him summon some reiki. Just as I'm making a verbal acknowledgement, he takes this chance while I'm off-guard to attack. I glower at the screen, finished with making my observation.

He stops moving the joystick and I do likewise. "That was the third time I summoned the reiki," he says quietly so that he's not overheard by anyone walking past us. I pout a bit at this revelation. I really missed the first two times? This isn't good. "Anyway, we're going to add a step to this. Each time you do manage to sense it, tell me if it's stronger or weaker than the previous time you did."

"Like…more or less energy is used?"

I see him nod out of my peripheral vision. I nod in return then we both ask if the other is ready before resuming our game. I'm not doing quite as good at the game as before, now trying even harder to sense when he summons some of his spirit energy. Even if I don't sense _every_ time, if I can keep the misses to a minimum, I won't be so upset. I know there's always going to be room for improvement.

Up, over, B, A, comment that I sense his energy and that it's more than the previous time. He grins a bit, grumbles out an affirmative response, then attempts to punch my character in the face. I hit the down button just in time, dodging the attack. I also have my avatar kick his the next second. His avatar flies back a bit, and in no time flat he's the one attacking me. I chew on my bottom lip for a moment, trying to both dodge his next attack and tell him that this time he used less energy. My multitasking succeeds and I squeak a bit in glee.

Beside me, Kuwabara is laughing. He makes a remark about how that squeak sounded _just_ like one of my kitten mews. This causes me to scrunch up my nose. "Don't be like that. It does not! …does it really?" I duck my head, suddenly self-conscious.

"Don't worry, Suna-chan," Kuwabara says in a coo, teasing me more. He then uses a serious tone as he says, "It's actually kinda cute though."

My face is red with blush. Curse him for getting me all flustered then killing my character in the game! I wring my hands for a moment then cross my arms over my chest. I look at Kuwabara directly. "Less."

He grins widely. "You're finally able to sense that level. Congrats!" He lifts his hand for a high-five and I do so without thinking. Then his words register in my head. I grin wider and lift my hand up for another high five. Kuwabara laughs at me but obliges all the same. Man, if I'm already improving today, that's a good sign. Kurama was definitely right to have me train with Kuwabara like this.

We head over to our table and sit down on opposite sides. He and I eat a few chips before either of us say a word. Then I finally ask a question that has showed its face a few times in my brain. "So, why _did_ you pick the arcade for us to train in?"

"Well," he starts, taking another bite of the chips, "there's a lot of background noise. Before I could control my spiritual awareness, I hung out here even more than I do now. It helps to drown out some of the excess spiritual energy that's swirling around. Makes it easier to ignore ghosts and all."

Ah, that's right. I had forgotten that his awareness is at a high enough level that he's able to sense ghosts. I wonder how often he's able to do that? I ask him, and he comments that almost every night he has a weird dream or a couple strange dreams that are brought on because of ghosts or other restless spirits. I furrow my brow, not quite understanding the latter part. When I ask him, Kuwabara tells me that someone doesn't have to be dead in order for their spirit to be restless. He reminds me about the tournament and the team that had been trapped under Dr. Ichigaki.

"Oh yeah! Their spirits had called out to you, and that was how you knew about their master," I say, perking up a bit. He nods. I take a sip of my icee, which has started to water down.

Popping another chip into his mouth, Kuwabara asks, "So…ready to continue 'more or less' while I beat you at another game?"

I jump up from my seat, point at him, and proclaim: "You mean while _I_ beat _you?_ Of course I'm ready!"

And with some maniacal laughter, which I have gotten even better at since I defeated Kurama's Blue Eyes, I rush off to pick out another game. When Kuwabara catches up, he's grinning somewhat mischievously. I narrow my eyes, very suspicious.

"You missed when I summoned reiki. You were too busy running off," he says then breaks out into his own version of maniacal laughter, that diabolic fiend.

I wrinkle my nose. "This means _war_!"

-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-

This chapter was shorter, but I already have the next one planned out. If Kurama thought his first meeting with Sunako's parents was in any way awkward, just wait til next chapter when Kuwabara faces _his_ turn at 'meet the parents'. Needless to say, Kuwabara's reputation precedes him.


End file.
